The Federal Government on Tuesday warned Nigerians involved in smuggling of frozen chicken to desist from it as it could resurface Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country.
A statement issued by the Federal Department of Animal Production and Husbandry Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Abuja, lamented that despite the ban on the importation of poultry and poultry products, frozen chicken had continued to find its way into local market through land border.
It quoted the United States Academic Decathlon Agricultural Information Network to have said 90 per cent of frozen chicken in Nigeria come in through the Republic of Benin and other West African Countries.
It blamed the decline in consumption of local chicken, jobs provided by the poultry industry and decrease of national income generated from the poultry sub-sector on the illegal trade.
The statement, which acknowledged that the sale of frozen chicken had become a means of livelihood for some Nigerians, stated that its continuous consumption posed great health risk.
It noted that some factors put forward by nutritionists for its health risk to include the length of storage of frozen chicken before reaching Nigeria.
The statement added that the quality was usually very low due to the break in cold chain during several hours of land journey in Nigeria through illegal route and absence of quality certification or standard of instruments used.
It said that besides the above factors, the recent outbreak of EVD in some West African countries had shown that the handling of these products could transmit the disease.
According to the statement, people handling these frozen chickens were not known and there are no checks on the storage facility and the mode of transportation used.
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