Chicken alert : Belgium chicken, eggs may be dangerous ? Health Ministry

Accra (Greater Accra) 2nd June ?99

The Belgian Ministry of Health has warned that Belgian chicken and eggs may be unsafe for consumption.

A faxed message from the Ghana Mission in Brussels, received by the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday, said the Belgian press has quoted the ministry as saying that "the risk of contamination is small, but as a precaution, it is recommended to the population to stop eating chicken and eggs".

The message was sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with copies to the Ministers of Health and Trade.

The message said as a result of the warning, most supermarkets in Belgium have withdrawn chickens and eggs from their shelves, although some open-market sellers claim contaminated chicken and eggs have been on the market for a long time now.

"The cause of contamination has been traced to high level of dioxin in poultry feed, in the eggs and in chicken fat."

It said the ban is also to affect pork and all pork products, as it has been established that pigs have also been fed on similar feed.

The message said part of the ingredients used for the manufacture of the feed have been imported from the Netherlands.

"Both the Belgian and Netherlands governments have reportedly issued independent enquiries into this matter of contamination which, reportedly, was detected in January 1999."

The message said the Mission's investigations so far have confirmed the media reports and revealed that some European countries have banned the importation of Belgian chicken and eggs.

The Mission recommended that "urgent measures be taken to protect the Ghanaian consumer by having all chicken and eggs that are already on the Ghanaian market withdrawn immediately, and for a ban to be placed on the importation of any such chicken and eggs, directly or indirectly, into Ghana."