By Grace Zigah
A potentially serious public health incident has been reported at Awakpeta in the Ho Municipality after residents reportedly collected frozen chicken that had been illegally discarded in the area, with some of the meat allegedly taken into homes for processing, consumption and possible sale.
According to reports, residents who came across the discarded chicken collected portions of it before authorities were alerted to the situation.
Some of the products were reportedly transported into private homes, creating fears that the meat could enter the food chain through household consumption or resale.
The circumstances surrounding the illegal disposal of the frozen chicken, including who discarded the products and why they were dumped at Awakpeta, remain unclear from the information available.
However, the fact that residents were able to retrieve the discarded meat has heightened concerns among local authorities over the possibility of contaminated or otherwise unsafe food being consumed by unsuspecting members of the public.
Following reports of the incident, Environmental Health officials, working with personnel from the Bureau of National Intelligence (BNI) and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), launched a house-to-house operation in the community.
The exercise was aimed at locating residents who had collected the discarded chicken and confiscating the products before they could be processed, consumed or placed on the market.
