General News of Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Source: GhanaWeb
2017-02-28
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Angry traders of dry tilapia popularly known as ‘Koobi’ at the Agbogbloshie market in Accra are threatening to embark demonstration over low sales following reports alleging that, a cancer causing chemical is been used in processing the dry fish.
The Traders denied knowledge of the chemical called formalin, which was widely reported to be used in the dry fish processing, adding that the known traditional preservative, salt, is still the only thing used in the dry preservation.
‘Ever since the news of poisonous ‘koobi’ broke and awash the media landscape, sales have been extremely low’ the koobi sellers lamented.
Meanwhile ‘koobi’ consumers have also have denied noticing any side effect from consuming the dry tilapia.
The development came to the media after Environment Minister Science Technology and Innovation, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng had reportedly said 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 is quoted to have 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;’
