• We earlier alerted NAFDAC, says firm
THE war against unwholesome products in the country Sunday received a boost as the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) through its Department of Fisheries (FDF) uncovered 3028 cartons (about 60.5 metric tonnes) of spoiled fish in a cold room in Lagos.
The products are made up of 2,771 cartons (55MT) of Russian Herring and 256 cartons of different species of fish.
However, the company, Bharat Ventures, located on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, said the inspection was done with the company’s co-operation with FDF officials. He added that the product was already marked for separation and disposal even before the fisheries department came calling.
At the company premises, where officials of the FDF were busy supervising the loading of the bad products, the acting Director of Fisheries, Foluke Areola, said the nation had been spared the health risk it faced if consumers ate the product.
The cartons in which the products were packaged, according to Areola, were faulty right from Russia, the origin of the fish product, in that there was no protective polyethylene material as primary package to keep the product from moisture content fluctuations that negatively affects the quality.
She further explained that though not all the stock of fish was bad, but that it was unacceptable that the bad ones were not discovered until the department checked them.
Aside that, it was discovered that of the quantity, 2,771 cartons went bad even before the expiration date became due in a fortnight, while the rest were outrightly rotten.
An official of the ministry said these are the results of dumping, which many fish importers have inflicted on the country with collaboration of the exporting countries. But Areola revealed that some of the companies engaged in heavy import for the fear that there would be a ban on fish importation. She, however, pointed out that there was nothing like that as regulation was in place and in line with the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government.
Expressing displeasure at the poor quality of fish that finds their way to the markets, the acting director said people should demand better quality. She warned that it was not enough for women to settle for cheap products but to look at some physical properties of the fish before making purchase.
She pointed out that fish with sunken eye, soft body on being depressed with the finger and discoloration are physical signs that the product has gone bad.
However, General Manager of Bharat Ventures, importers of the product, Mr. Kelvin Nigli, said that the company would bear the cost of the evacuation to the dumpsite at Epe and destruction and affirmed the company’s readiness to bring best quality fish from different parts of the world.
He revealed that the cost of the spoilt fish is put at about three million naira.
He said the company had earlier reported to NAFDAC the existence of the 256 cartons of bad fish that were due for disposal.
On how the products came to that physical state, he said there was glut in the market at a time and this affected the rate of sales adversely resulting in spoilage.
In a letter dated April 1, the company had written to the agric minister accepting responsibility, requesting the reopening of the cold room which was sealed on March 25.
For now, the products have been moved by a team of FDF personnel, company officials and the media, in attendance, to Epe where the destruction took place yesterday.
About two weeks ago, the Agriculture Minister, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, led a team of his ministry officials to a number of cold rooms in Satellite town, Lagos, where rotten fish was also discovered by FMARD.
