Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Food division of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Roderick Daddey Adjei has re-emphasized the ban on large importation and vendor sale of turkey tail ‘tsofi’ amidst the crackdown exercise by the FDA in some parts of Ghana.
In an interview with TV3 news, Mr. Adjei mentioned that restating the stand of the country towards fatty foods has become necessary due to the negative health implications that turkey tail as such, poses on human health, hence the need to adopt strict measures to reduce its patronage to protect the health of citizens.
“The GES 91 (2015) section 4.3.2 reads, dress poultry or poultry parts shall have fat content of not more than 15% when tested. It smells nice because its oil and it will have that nice flavor. A lot of the good taste from food is contributed by oil. But on the other side, is the health effect it will have on people. The ban is there because we don’t want the practice of someone going to heap all of those things in cartons and bringing them over.”
“The food and drugs authority does not wait for Christmas, we have to protect the citizenry and we do it all the time so anyone thinking he or she can go underground and do certain things thinking that the FDA is not watching, they are making a mistake.”
He continued to advise the general public to be mindful of what they eat and to practice balanced dieting.
“Whether it’s Christmas or after Christmas, watch what you eat, get a good balanced diet, be careful of trans fatty acids that may be found in foods.”
On the sideline, Univers News engaged some vendors and students who reacted to the matter. The vendors agreed with the FDA’s stance, further explaining their decision to not sell the food product.
“I don’t sell it, because I know the health hazard of ‘tsofi’, but people like it and when I stopped selling it, they stopped buying certain things from me but since I know the health implications, I tried to put in another thing which is fish.”
‘Tsofi’ was previously banned by the FDA in 1999 due to the possibility of high contents of cholesterol and fats, which are detrimental to humans, hence putting them at risk of developing fatal illnesses.
On October 3oth, the FDA took to Suhum and Nsawam to swoop up the turkey tails from the public’s reach. The intention of the swoop was to control the supply and intake of the product on the market.
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Story by: Vannessa Nyasi Mensah | univers.ug.edu.gh
