340 cartons of 'chofi' destroyed

Page 20, May 24, 2010
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah, Nsawam
OFFICIALS of the Food and Drug Board (FDB) have destroyed 340 cartons of turkey tails which were seized from a cold store at Nsawam in the Akuapem South District of the Eastern Region.
Although at the time of the seizure, the products were in a state of decomposition, officials of the board told the Daily Graphic that they were being sold to wayside turkey tail sellers to be fried and sold to the unsuspecting general public.
The Nsawam community has become notorious for the selling of turkey tails, known in local parlance as chofi, the importation of which has been banned in the country.
The wayside sellers fry the commodity and sell them to passengers travelling to other parts of the region and beyond, especially during heavy traffic periods.
The Head of the Food Safety Unit of the FDB, Mr Sylvester Oteng Kyei, said even though the Ministry of Food and Agriculture had stopped issuing permits for the importation of turkey tails into the country since 1999, they were still being smuggled into the country either through unapproved routes or through misleading declaration of product contents at the approved points of entry.
At the Joyce Cold Store at Nsawam where the 340 cartons of the turkey products were seized for destruction, onlookers could not help but cover their noses because of the foul smell that emanated from the store.
One of the onlookers, Kofi Owusu, wondered why such a decomposed commodity could be sold, and called for more efforts to prevent turkey tails from getting to the Ghanaian market.
Mr Kyei, on the other hand told the Daily Graphic that the target of the FDB was to get to the bottom of the undercover importation of turkey tails into the country.
He said the board, through the assistance of other state agencies, was poised to use distributors whose goods had been seized to arrest the importers.
Mr Kyei explained that sanctions such as administrative charges would be slapped on the cold store owner to serve as a deterrent to others involved in such illegal trade.
Turkey tails are part of poultry products with a total fat content exceeding 15 per cent which have been banned.
The Head of Communications of the FDB, Mr James Lartey, therefore urged the general public to inform the law enforcement agencies to enable them to apprehend offenders.
“The FDB would like to strongly advise the consuming public to desist from patronising turkey tails and give information on any person known to be involved in the illegal importation of the said commodity”.
Mr Lartey gave the assurance that the FDB, in conjunction with the National Security, the Veterinary Services Directorate and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, would continue to intensify the inspection of all frozen food consignments prior to release, in order to curtail their release onto the market.