June 16, 2006

 

Ghana says chickens imported from EU unfit for human consumption

 

 

A study in Ghana has found that 83 percent of chicken imported into Africa are unfit for human consumption.

 

The study showed that the chicken contained such germs as salmonella, campylobacter and faecal coli forms, according to the the Pasteur centre in Cameroon

 

Chicken exported to Africa are exclusively produced for export and cannot be sold on the European market, according to a report published in the African Agenda.

 

 According to the report, the production of chicken meant for Africa does not conform to standards on the EU market.

 

Chickens exported to Africa are usually immature and contain very high traces of antibiotics, the report said.

 

200 samples of frozen chicken from 164 sales points in six towns were used for the test. 

 

The report said an observation team to exporting countries discovered there are 4 categories of chicken, namely farm chicken, labeled chicken, standard chicken and chicken for export.

 

Those sent to Africa are export chicken which are not sold on the European market.

 

The production process for this type of chicken does not conform to EU requirements of being reared for 45 days and confined to a density of 10 to 12 birds per metre square.

 

Birds for exports are reared 30 to 33 days, stuffed with growth promoting antibiotics and confined to a density of 20 to 25 birds per square metre, the report said.

 

Unhygienic practices also explained why the chickens are contaminated, the report added.

 

There have been serious concerns on the influx of import chicken in Ghana, which has nearly doubled from 26,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes by 2004.

 

In 1992 domestic poultry farmers supplied 95 percent of the Ghanaian market, but by 2001 their market share had shrunk to just 11 percent.

 

This meant many poultry businesses have been wiped out by cheaper chicken imports as imported chicken is only slightly more than half of the wholesale price of local chicken.

 

Ghana imports almost one third of the EU frozen chicken that goes to Africa. 87 percent of the poultry in Cameroon, comes from Belgium and Spain. For Senegal, the Netherlands and Belgium combined account for 60 percent.

 

In Cameroon, French activists have taken up their case to lobby the EU for a better protection of African farmers. And in Senegal, according to reports by the Agence France Presse (AFP), 40 percent of the nation's poultry farmers have gone out of business because they are unable to compete with EU imports.