By Robert Dixon& Reagan S.Lebbie
Monrovia, Jan. 31 (LINA) – The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) has disclosed that following laboratory tests of samples of a consignment of pig feet confiscated and quarantined by the ministry, most were found to be infected with Salmonella poison.
Salmonella infection, or salmonellosis, is a food-borne illness caused by infection with Salmonella bacteria. Most infections spread to people through contaminated food, usually meat, poultry, eggs, or milk.
The common bacterial disease affects the intestinal tract, and typically lives in animal and human intestines and is transmitted through feces. Humans become infected with Salmonella most frequently through contaminated water or food.
It can be recalled that the MoCI recently announced that it confiscated and placed under quarantine a total of 2,754 barrels of pig feet shipped into the country by Cheaitou Brothers, a major importer of frozen foods in Liberia.
Addressing a news conference in Monrovia on Wednesday, Commerce Minister Wilson Tarpeh disclosed that sample of the suspected consignment of pig feet were taken to the National Standards Laboratory where most were detected to contain Salmonella, while another sample of the same shipment were detected for yeast and mould.
According to Tarpeh, the decision of the MoCI to quarantine the pig meat was based on an earlier alert issued by the European Union to the Ministry of Health that a business in Liberia was bringing in a consignment of contaminated pig feet from a slaughter house located in Europe.
He disclosed that upon the alert from the EU, the Commerce Ministry informed its Inspectorate Unit, something which prompted the move by the MoCI to conduct a « Regulatory Sampling. »
« In as much as the government welcomes an open and participatory market, it will not condone harmful business practices in the country, » Tarpeh noted.
He indicated that the Ministry of Commerce remains committed to ensuring that anyone found in any bad business practice that endangers the health of Liberians will be made to account for their actions in accordance with law.
LINA RD/RSL/CBN/WSG/PTK
