The Safe Catch: AI Protects Your Health from Formalin-Laced Fish

Abstract

In Bangladesh, where fish is a staple food, ensuring its safety from formalin contamination poses a critical challenge due to its perishable nature. This study introduces an intelligent application employing digital image processing for the rapid and non-intrusive detection of formalin in fish. Leveraging image analysis of fish eyes, the system distinguishes between formalin and non-formalin treated fish. The proposed architecture, utilizing EfficientNet-B3 and VGG-16 models, achieved a 98.05% and 98% accuracy rate in training and validation on the dataset. This method offers a swift and accurate means of examination without damaging sample preparation, particularly beneficial in large-scale operations where manual inspection is impractical. Unlike human senses, digital image processing algorithms remain impartial, overcoming human biases and subjective judgments. Challenges persist, such as the diverse appearance of fish and external factors like varying illumination, which may impact the reliability and effectiveness of image processing programs for formalin detection. Nonetheless, this technology holds promise in addressing the pressing need for dependable and automated formalin detection in the fish supply chain, ensuring food safety and public health.