Urban Survival Tip: A lot of wet market fish transported with formalin
Meeting Mike and Eva Bote was very educational. They told me that many years ago they were in the fishing business. They said that as soon as fish is loaded on the truck from the fish port to the wet markets, the fish is loaded not just with ice, but with formalin as well.
Now I enjoy going to the wet market and buying fresh ocean fish for my family every week, but this is alarming. Now I have to segregate which sea food most likely do not contain formalin. The live ones being sold most likely will not have formalin. I don’t buy farmed freshwater fish so I don’t care about bangus / milk fish, tilapia and cat fish. The big fish are blast frozen. So that leaves most small dead ocean fish.
Mike Bote says I should try buying my fish at the fish ports. He said there is a Paranaque Fish Port along Coastal Road many kilometers before reaching Bacoor from Roxas Boulevard.
I visited the Paranaque Fish Port this late morning to see for myself. It was Sunday so there was no traffic. Not much action at that time… dead time of day. The action is around 2am so says the fish vendors there. I tried my luck at buying live blue crabs / alimangos and live ocean crabs / alimasag. I did not fancy buying the fresh mussels and fresh oysters as I believe Cavite waters are polluted.
I drove farther and wound up in the Bacoor Public Market and just bought a couple of fresh big prawns but these are fish pond grown. Still tasty. Raw tasty. You know me, I eat my meat raw. This time I dipped my prawns in Ilocos Vinegar to disinfect it.
My next adventures will take me to the nearby fish ports. I’ve heard of Malabon and Navotas fish ports. Will have to drive up on them around 2am. See the action for myself with my trusty cook. After making the rounds, we can schedule these trips with my driver and the cook so they can do the marketing for us. Let’s see.