Staff of Peninsula Sea Fish Limited are busy packing frozen fish. The company has started to supply frozen sea fish to the domestic market to meet the rapidly growing demand for uncontaminated fish. One of the country's leading fish exporters has started to supply frozen sea fish to the domestic market to meet the rapidly growing demand for uncontaminated fish. Peninsula Sea Fish Limited (PSFL), a concern of the Peninsula Group, claims to be the first Bangladeshi company selling fish frozen at sea in the local market in any scale. "We now supply around five tonnes of frozen fish every month to different shops in Dhaka,' said Monowarul Hoque, managing director of the Peninsula Group. The move comes following a string of reports of sea fish being preserved using harmful chemicals such as formalin. Experts said around 50,000 boats collect around 2 million tonnes of sea fish annually but they do not reach the consumers uncontaminated as these boats lack proper preservation facilities. "We maintain between minus 32 degree Celsius and minus18 degree Celsius at every level of fish preservation until it reaches the retail consumers, which helps to keep the food value of the fish,' said Appel Mahmud, marketing manager of PSFL. Describing the preservation and cooling facilities of PSFL the officials said they start the preservation process as early as the collection of the fish from the sea through the group's another sister concern Peninsula Fishing Ltd which catches these fishes with its four deep sea fishing trawlers equipped with individual quick frozen (IQF) facility. Under the IQF facility, the fishes are being frozen at minus 30 degree Celsius and then preserved at minus 18 degree Celsius. Describing why the fishes are preserved at minus 18 degrees temperature, he said that this temperature safeguards the fish from becoming decomposed as well as this temperature also halts the growth of harmful bacteria in the fish. The company, exporting fish to countries including China, Japan, Thailand, Middle East and some European countries started supplying frozen fish to local stores since November last year. Fish is the second largest export item of the country. In the first nine months of the fiscal year 2007-08 the country earned $381.02 million through exporting frozen foods showing a 7.31 per cent growth over the previous fiscal. In the FY 2006-07 the country earned $515.32 through exporting the products. kawsar@thedailystar.net