By Regina Benneh
Sunyani, June 23, GNA – Dr Donald Joachim Darko, the Bono Regional Director of the Veterinary Services Department, has assured the public that it is safe to consume meat and its other products from the region.
“Meat is safe for consumption” because there have not been any incidence of anthrax outbreak in the region,” he stated.
Dr Darko, who gave the assurance in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the outbreak of the anthrax disease was only discovered in three districts in the Northern Region, and effort had since been made to check the movement of animals and meat from the endemic areas, to protect lives and curb its spread to other neighboring towns and regions.
He advised the public, particularly meat lovers, to buy their products from only the appropriate and designated meat shops and not from roadside retailers or hawkers from un-authenticated sources.
Dr Darko noted that some farmers might not want their animals to be wasted because of the investment and the monetary value, hence without considering public health and safety, they might try to sell these unwholesome animals at reduced prices to recoup their monies.
He emphasised the need for the public to be careful of dry meat now on the market, because some people could kill sick animals at hidden places, roast and use unapproved routes to bring them to the markets for sale.
Consumers need to be alert and cooperate with security, veterinary and environmental health officers from the Municipal and District Assemblies in an exercise to prevent unwholesome meat from entering the market, he urged.
He advised the populace to think first of their health and safety and that of others in the interest of the public and encouraged farmers to report the death of their animals, as well as any strange diseases to officials at any nearby veterinary office for immediate investigation.
Dr Darko said anthrax disease could infect a person after inhaling the germ, which then attacks the digestive system.
He announced that veterinary officers had intensified the inspection of animals at the abattoirs to ascertain and certify the fitness of animals before they were slaughtered for public consumption.
Dr Darko advised the public to support efforts aimed at preventing the spread of the disease, which was caused by a germ commonly found in the soil and could affect animals through their feeding, and this could put people working in infected localities and with other livestock at risk of exposure.
GNA