It is safe to consume local poultry – Deputy Minister assures
Amidst reported outbreak of avian influenza (bird flu) in the city of Tema, Dr. Hanna Bisiw, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of livestock, has assured Ghanaians that it is safe to consume local poultry.
The Deputy Minister insisted that the outbreak had been contained and that there was no cause for any anxiety.
Dr Hanna Bisiw was addressing separate meetings with live bird traders at the Kumasi Central Market and the Railways Station during a day’s visit to the region to address the bird flu scare.
The government, she stated had made available the necessary logistics – vehicles and chemicals, to fight any outbreak of the disease.
Dr. Bisiw assured of compensation payments to affected farmers to aid them to re-start their business.
She took time to take the people through the symptoms of the influenza and the signs to look for once they were on the poultry farm.
She urged consumers to give preference to the local poultry rather than imported frozen chicken, the origin and conditions of which were unknown; that these imported meat products were less expensive compared with the price of the local poultry should not deceive anybody.
The people called for increased public education on the disease and loans at concessionary rates to affected farmers.
Source: GNA