MEAT CONSUMPTION SCARE!

… some butcheries in Lusaka are reportedly using unknown chemicals as meat preservatives in the wake of prolonged hours of load shedding to prevent their products from going bad.

By Kalobwe Bwalya

REPORTS suggesting that some butcheries in Lusaka are using unknown chemicals to preserve meat products must be thoroughly investigated, health expert Canisius Banda has demanded. 

Speaking to The Scoop, Dr. Banda said the Lusaka City Council (LCC) must quickly investigate reports that some butcheries in Lusaka were subjecting their products to unknown chemicals to prolong their shelf life thereby preventing them from going bad in the wake of prolonged hours of load shedding.

He explained that the Public Order Act empowered the local Authority to ensure that the consumption of food was done in a proper way by ensuring that it was safe, adding that it was unfortunate that some butcheries had reportedly resorted to adding chemicals to their products so that they did not go bad.

 “All food meant for the consumption of the members of the public is regulated and the local Authority should ensure that there is food safety,” Dr. Banda said.

He observed that it was the work of the Council to carry out inspections regularly and ensure that members of the public were consuming food that was safe.

“Food meant for the consumption of the public should be safe. The Council should take interest in it and start investigations to ensure that the lives of citizens consuming these products are not harmed,” he said.

And Dr Banda disclosed that any chemical that was meant for other things should not be added to the food because it was a danger to human beings.

He alleged that the local Authority was not doing much when it came to implementing regulations because anyone could buy and sell on the streets across the country without any requisite requirements and that it was such lapses that created a problem as such unregulated businesses posed a health challenge on citizens.

“The local Authority should move in quickly and bring the culprits to book because if this is true, then people will start suffering from incurable diseases such as cancer, among many others,” he said.