CONTANMINATED FISHMEAL AT ASHAIMAN MARKET (MIRROR, DEC 4, 2010, PAGE 35)

From Rose Hayford Darko, Ashaiman
 
CONTAMINATED fishmeal has flooded the Ashaiman timber market where many poultry farmers buy their fishmeal.
The contaminated fishmeal is alleged to contain saw dust, sand and other foreign materials and farmers who fed their chicks with it had experienced high mortality rates among the birds on their farms.
Also affected are fish hatchery operators  whose fingerlings are unable to survive after being fed with the contaminated fishmeal.
Investigations conducted by The Mirror confirmed that the traders rebagged the sacks of certified dealers with the contaminated ones .
An Official of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), who confirmed the situation, said some culprits were found rebagging the sacks with the contaminated stuff but they managed to abscond, escaping police arrest.
Mr James Lartey, Communications Manager of the FDB, advised poultry farmers to buy from certified dealers to avoid any contaminations on their farms as the Board monitored the situation .
A poultry farmer, Mr Daniel Kissiedu of Kisbenz and Menz Poultry Limited at Gbetsile near Ashaiman, said only 170 out of his 700 chicks survived the contaminated fishmeal only after administering antibiotics on them at an extra cost.
Mr Kissiedu, however, said just five out of another consignment of 1,500 chicks died when he changed the fishmeal and fed the chicks with those bought from the Ghana Protein Limited. 
Another farmer, who is engaged in hatchery at Akuse, Mr  Daniel Marfo,  said his company was compelled to buy the fishmeal from the open market because Ghana Protein Limited was unable to satisfy the market with its product 'which qualifies to be the best of all'.
He appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture to monitor the fishmeal on the market to weed out the contaminants and save their farms from such huge losses.  
Meanwhile, Ghana Protein Limited, the only mechanised fishmeal producing company in the country, is considering relocating from Ghana to Brazil because of lack of co-ordination in the supply of fish from the Pioneer Food Cannery (PFC) and the Customs Division of the Revenue Authority(CEPS) at the port.
According to Mr Anthony Adu-Nketia, an Administrator of Ghana Protein Limited, though the company had the capacity to produce 360 tonnes of fishmeal daily it now produced only 29 tonnes because of unfair allocation of fish from the supply agencies .
He explained that the company used raw and steamed offal from PFC and uncleared fish which were auctioned by the CEPS at the port for fishmeal and not for human consumption .
Mr Adu-Nketia said the uncleared fish which were unwholesome did not get to the fishmeal companies but found their way to the market for sale for consumption, denying the companies of raw materials .
He said the company’s workforce of 150 had been cut to 50 and appealed to the Minsitry of Agriculture to intervene and streamline the supply chain of the fish to enable the company to satisfy the market with hygienic products, adding that the company also had machinery for fish pellets to serve fish farmers to boost aqua culture .