More Trouble For Finatrade

*9,000 Metric Tonnes Rich & Container Load Of Chicken To Be Destroyed* The woes of the Lebanese company Sucatrade, a member of Finatrade Group of Companies, the business entity that imported thousands of chicken declared unwholesome and destroyed by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) last Wednesday, in Tema, is far from over.

Information picked up by The Herald reveals that the FDB is on the verge of confiscating another consignment of chicken from the same company’s for destruction because it is unwholesome for human consumption.

The present consignment is currently locked up at the Tema Habour; the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA) has directed that it should be destroyed or re-exported to the country of origin, The Netherlands.

Meanwhile, The Herald is also informed that about 9, 000 metric tones of Sultana rice, also at the habour, have also been detected to be unwholesome for humans. Steps are far advanced to have it detained by FDB.

In the possession of The Herald is a January 16 2012 letter sent to the Sector Commander of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Customs Division at Tema, saying that “the inspections conducted on Frozen Chicken Leg Quarters imported from The Netherlands by Sucatrade Limited indicates that the product is not suitable for human consumption”.

The letter signed by Dr. George B. Crentsil, who is the Executive Director of the GSA, gave the number of the container in which the unwholesome goods are stored as GESU 9051282, and warned that “the goods should not be released for distribution and sale.”

The letter, which was copied to Sucatrade, directed that the unwholesome chicken “should be destroyed or re-exported to the country of origin”.

It said that the discovery was made following the investigation by Destination Inspectors of the GSB at the Tema Habour. As at yesterday, some FDB officials told The Herald that the chicken had started going bad with an offensive odour emanating from the container.

For now, Finatrade Group has more questions to answer as another document cited by The Herald’s investigation team also explains how a trader from Obuasi, Jocelyn Dzanie, in the Ashanti region, bought a huge quantity of rice from the Kumasi branch of Market Direct Limited Ghana (MDLGhana) also owned by Finatrade, but upon opening the bags of rice, she realized that the rice had caked and changed colour with weevils flying in and out of the sack.

Every attempt by Ms. Dzanie to retrieve her money or have the rice replaced by the company proved futile, forcing her to report the matter to the FDB for action to be taken against the company.

Meanwhile, a press statement by the FDB earlier announced that it last Wednesday went ahead as promised, to destroy the unwholesome chicken parts from Sucatrade Limited after its routine monitoring activities found out that the company had unwholesome chicken parts in its bulk cold storage facility in Tema, where the company is based.

Inspection of the said consignment showed the lumping together of the unwholesome chicken parts and torn cartons in a caked form, parked directly on the bare floor and against the walls of the cold room in two large heaps.

According to the FDB, the state in which the products were found compromised its safety, which was clearly confirmed by a laboratory analysis (microbiological) on the products, indicating that the chicken parts were heavily contaminated by bacteria such as E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and thermotolerant Coliforms.