How safe are meats in the FCT?

 

Meat is a major source of protein for many families in the country. Average homes in and outside the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) include this in their daily meals to meet up their protein requirement.

One is able to purchase, at least a small portion, for as low as N500 to meet the demand of an average family. Apart from affordability, it is also readily available along the street and in virtually all market and in recent times even superstores. This, however raises the question of how safe these meats are for human consumption?

This question becomes important with the recent report making the rounds on social media platforms that meat vendors use a dangerous chemical called formalin to repel flies from meats they sell.

The message which originated from a purported good Samaritan and has been rebroadcasted by thousands of social media users, read in part: “People are using formalin, the chemical used to preserve dead bodies, in preserving meat as it keeps flies away. This is a national public health issue.”

Formalin is an aqueous solution of the chemical compound Formaldehyde. Between 35 per cent and 40 per cent solution of formaldehyde in water is said to make formalin, which is used in the preservation of biological specimen and embalmment, in order to delay their decomposition.

The use of formalin in preservation of food products is said to be a major threat to health because it is highly toxic. Research shows that consumption of as little as 30ml of a solution containing 37 per cent formaldehyde can kill an adult. Studies have also shown a correlation between the chemical and leukemia.

According to a study carried out by Martin Fischer titled, “The toxic effects of formaldehyde and formalin” and published in Journal of Experimental Medicine, “Formalin belongs to that rare group of poisons which are capable of producing death suddenly when swallowed.”

The research further indicated that: “The introduction of formalin into the stomach is followed by the production of a gastritis which varies greatly in character. The duodenum and upper jejunum may also be involved in the inflammatory process.”

In the same vein, the National Cancer Institute confirmed that some studies of humans have shown that formaldehyde exposure is associated with certain kind of cancer and leukemia.

Although the author of the message did not specify the location where this is being done, his message has arisen concern of many meat consumers.

Our reporter, who embarked on a survey in some markets in the FCT, with a view to ascertain if butchers and meat sellers in the territory were involved in such practice, gathered that butchers in the markets surveyed were not engaging in the practice.

At Wuse market, the Chairman of the Butchers Association, Mr Uchechukwu Nwafor, said no meat seller in the market indulges in the practice.

He said the market, which has a veterinary that engages in routine inspection of the meat section, could never allow such a practice.
“Nobody in this market use chemical to preserve meat. We the dealers also eat from the meat that we sell, so there is no way someone can put chemical on what he himself consume. It is not possible,” he said.

Nwafor further argued that if the meats were treated with such chemical, flies would not be perching on them, calling this reporter’s attention to the flies around the displayed meats.

His words: “Look at flies perching on the meat, so if there are chemicals on these meats, no flies can come near them. If there is chemical, these flies everywhere cannot touch the meat and still remain alive.”

Asked how unsold meats were preserved by the butchers, he revealed that the market has no cold room, berating the FCT administration for not making such provision.

He advice members of the public to disregard the report, describing the originators as idol minds, who are all out to spoil the business of others.

Similarly, at Nyanya Market, the umbrella body of butchers in the market exonerated its members from such practice. The association’s Chairman, Salisu Suleiman, said no member of the association is using chemicals to repel flies or preserve their leftovers.

“If our meat remains, we put them in a cold room and we remove it early in the morning,” he said, pointing at the direction of the cold room behind the butchers stand.

According to him, the association is collaborating with veterinary doctors to eject illegal meat vendors from the market, adding: “They come here every day to check our meat whether they are good or not.”

Also, reacting to the allegation, the association’s Vice Chairman, Hilary Ogaba, said: Most of those rumors that are going around are not true especially inside the markets in Abuja. We don’t use any chemical to chase flies from out meats.

“Nobody in my market or any market inside Abuja, have ever done this and will do such thing because I have been in this business for a very long time, not less than 20 years.”

Ogaba emphasized that: “The union will not let any butcher to do such thing and there are veterinary doctors inside the market that inspect the condition of the meats. Even the manager of Nyanya Abattoir, where 80 per cent of the animals sold in the market are killed, is a veterinary doctor. So, the abattoir is well checked.”

He explained that: “The veterinary has agents they send into the markets to check the health status of every meat that is sold inside the market. But unfortunately, meats that are sold on the streets they don’t inspect them so those are the meats I can’t account for.”

Blueprint Weekend observed that while some meat displayed on the butcher’s stand were not completely free of flies, the quantity of flies perching on the meats was very little while a few others had no flies on them at all.

Prodded on whether this was an indication that those meats may have been bathe with the said chemical, he said: “You know flies have seasons too.”

According to him, butchers in the market resort to simple techniques to put of the flies rather than using such dangerous chemicals.
“We don’t chase flies, the only thing we do is to constantly use out hands and knife to chase flies away so that they don’t perch and stay on the meats. Some people use something like horse tail and special broom to put off flies,” he said.

Some consumers, who spoke with Blueprint Weekend confirmed that they had come across the message in question and expressed concern over the health implication of such practice. Most, said it would be the most heartless thing for a butcher to use such a chemical on meat meant for public consumption.

One of them, Mrs Doris Umaku, said such a practice is “really very scary and dangerous. Putting that kind of dangerous chemical in meat is very wicked act. It is very dangerous to health. But now that I am getting this information, I will start watching out to avoid buying any meat that is free from flies.”

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