Don’t Eat Frozen Chicken, Turkey – NAFDAC

By Akinwale Kasali

The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control, NAFDAC, has warned Nigerians against the consumption of frozen chicken, turkey, and other poultry products.

NAFDAC’s spokesman, Abubakar Jimoh, warned that these products are  preserved with Formalin, a poisonous chemical popularly used to preserve the human body in mortuaries.

Speaking in Abuja, the nation’s Capital, Jimoh said some unscrupulous business owners had been using formalin to preserve poultry products, chicken and turkey, in particular which is detrimental to human health after consumption.

Warning Nigerians sternly, NAFDAC said Formalin is capable of preserving such products for weeks before they get to consumers, which is dangerous to human health.

“NAFDAC is alerting Nigerians to this practice. There are enough poultry products in the country than to resort to frozen chicken smuggled in, despite Federal Government’s ban,” Jimoh said.

Jimoh also called the the attention of consumers to the economic import of patronising business owners who smuggle poultry products into the country.

For several months now, following the directives of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, borders have been blocked, yet, illegal products including frozen poultry foods are still been smuggled into the country.

NAFDAC noted that if such patronage continued, indigenous poultry farmers and marketers would not grow as desired, as the money spent on smuggled products would only go to producers of the products.

“The patronage of imported or smuggled products would also continue to negatively affect Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves”, it warned