Although imported chickens and
turkeys have become status symbol in Nigeria, the National Agency for Food And
Drug Administration And Control (NAFDAC) has come out to strongly warned
against the consumption of imported or smuggled frozen poultry frozen meat,
even as it has said that imported poultry products, especially chicken and
turkey have been discovered to be causative factor in non- communicable
diseases (NCDs) and antibiotics resistance.
Although NCDs are
non-infectious but they are deadly. Health conditions under NCDs include
cancer, kidney disease, and hypertension among others. NAFDAC Director
General,Dr Paul Orhii, who gave the warning at media briefing in Lagos, urged
Nigerians to avoid imported smuggled chickens and turkeys, because they have
been found to contain substances that can predispose one to kidney, liver and
lung diseases as well as certain types of cancers and drug resistance-
bacterial infections.
At the briefing, a study,
titled “Prevalence, Quality and Acceptability of Frozen Poultry Meat in Major
Cities in Nigeria” carried out by experts from University of Ibadan titled “,
was presented. Although imported foreign chicken, turkey and along with other
frozen poultry meat have been banned by the Federal Government, some Nigerians
have cultivated the habit of smuggling the banned poultry products into the
country to the ‘delight’ of some Nigerians who do not know the health
implications of consuming such products.
Orhii said that patronising
smuggled poultry foods do not only encourage economic sabotage, but also can
damage peoples’ health. Orhii added that the studies have found out that most
of the smuggled chicken into Nigeria contains high level of various deadly contaminants.
Orhii said: “Our studies have found that most of these smuggled chickens or
smuggled poultry products, may be because the way they are transported or
because they are not properly packaged, they contain some contaminants. It can
be formaldehyde, at times it can be high level of antibiotics residue and other
contaminants like heavy metals. “And that is why we are discouraging members of
the public from consuming them. We are particularly concerned about the high
level of antibiotics residue, because these can cause drug resistance,
resistance to antibiotics.” Orhii added that NAFDAC would begin strict
enforcement of the ban on imported poultry products.
The study, which Orhii referred
to, was carried out Prof. Olumide Tewe (lead researcher) ,Prof.S.S.Abiola (meat
technologist), Dr.O.AAbu (nutritional enzymologist), Dr.C.I.Alarima
(agriculture extensionist), Dr.O.A.Olabisi (public health specialist), Mr.S,
Adelani (chief technologist) and Mr. R. A. Aromoye (administrative assistant).
According to Tewe, a nutritional toxicologist, who led the research team that
discovered that foreign poultry products contain harmful toxic substance, the
sample for the study on “imported (smuggled) frozen poultry carcasses were
obtained from wholesalers and retailers in Lagos, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt and
Abuja,” and “analysed for heavy metals, microbial status and meat quality
parameters.”
The nutritional toxicologist
said the analysed smuggled or imported poultry food were found to be unsafe for
consumption, adding that the continuous consumption of imported chicken and
turkey could damage the human system on the long run, unlike poultry products
produce locally, which have been found to be safe for consumption. Tewe said:
“Consumers in the study area mostly consume chicken and turkey. Other poultry
meats consumed are duck, geese, guinea fowl and quail. Sources of poultry meat
sold is imported or smuggled poultry meat. A very small percentage (15.33) of
the retailers sold locally produced poultry meat.
“It was discovered that the
foreign poultry products contain high levels of formaldehyde, as well as high
levels of metals and other substances which are lethal to the human body as
against the locally bred poultry products which did not contain such
substances. Heavy metals (which have been found to be present in imported or
smuggled meat) may cause toxicity-related mutagenesis (mutation),
carcinogenesis (cancer) and other severe health hazards. Others (result of
heavy metals) are cardiovascular diseases, skin disorders, and neurotoxicity
lung and nasal cancer in humans”.
The general public, please take note...
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