Some angry ‘koobi’ sellers in Agbogbloshie Market in the Greater Accra Region are up in arms against the Minister of Environment, Prof Kwabena Frimpoong Boateng for claiming that some sellers poison the fish before bringing into the market.
The Environment Minister reportedly said that the traders were using formalin for the preservation of the Koobi and this, he said was a health risk.
Formalin is a colorless strong-smelling chemical substance usually used in the textiles, plastics, papers, paint, and construction industries as a well-known chemical used to preserve human corpse.
Speaking to journalists during a working visit to the Food Research Institute (FRI) and the Industrial Research Institute (IRR) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Friday [February 24, 2016], Prof Frimpong-Boateng said:
“Tell the traders to stop using formalin but instead use salt to preserve Koobi. ‘Koobi’ was a little softer back then and when you put it in the open, flies will be attracted to it. These days, you put ‘Koobi’ there and even flies will not go near…,”
“So we want the few people who are destroying that industry to stop. Don’t preserve ‘Koobi with formalin but with salt, it is dangerous, it can cause cancer and it is dangerous everywhere, he said.
But some angry market women at Agbogbloshie in Accra speaking in an interview on Adom Midday News said the professor’s statement will collapse their business.
They indicated that what Professor Kwabena Frimpong said is never true hence and has caused a decline the rate of purchase of the salted product.
“It is never true. We don’t use formalin to preserve the fishes. After his claim, our services have been decreased totally. No one is coming to buy the fish from us. We plead with him to reverse the statement to allow us sell our products. This is absurd and wrong. We never do that…” some of the traders lamented.
“We use salt to preserve the fishes. We take them from Kpando. We only bring it when they are very dry from the heat of the sun. Anything apart from salt will spoil the fish…” they told Adom News’ Shine Acquah.
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