TAMALE METROPOLIS FREE FROM SALMONELLA CONTAMINATED GIZZARD FOR NOW!

Following the recent news of the escaped of a three-footer container of Salmonella

contaminated gizzards into the Ghanaian market, a senior lecturer and microbiologist in the Department of Biotechnology of the University for Development Studies, Dr. Courage Kosi Setsoafia Saba, has conducted a preliminary survey to assess the quality and safety of gizzards from some retail outlets in the Tamale metropolis of the northern region of Ghana.

According to Dr. Saba, the series of calls he had received from close relatives amidst the growing fear of the consumption of gizzard by the general public was what instigated this preliminary survey to ascertain the microbiological quality of this part of birds that have been a delicacy to some Ghanaians. Again, he emphasized on the conflicting reports of the media and that from the Foods and Drugs Authority (FDA) as another reason for his survey which he could described as that of an independent investigative body. Notwithstanding that, the core objective of every researcher or scientist is to impact his/her community positively- he added.

Giving a description of how the research was conducted; he opined that only twenty (20) cold stores within the Tamale metropolis had in stock the product (gizzard) as at the time of sampling. From these cold stores, they were able to collect twenty-one (21) gizzard products which have been imported from only three (3) different countries. He mentioned the Federative Republic of Brazil as the country to have had the highest number of gizzard products in cold stores in the metropolis.

According to him, the thirteen (13) gizzard samples which have come from four (4) different brands were from the aforementioned geographical location.

However, all the seven (7) and one (1) gizzard product that have come from Turkey and the United Kingdom respectively, were of the same brand. He narrated further that the twenty-one (21) gizzard products from the twenty (20) different cold stores were transported in an ice chest filled with ice packs and then transported to the Spanish Laboratory Complex of the University for Development Studies for microbiological analysis.

In determining the presence of Salmonella from the sampled gizzards, we followed the procedures outlined by international microbiological standards for determining Salmonella in foods.

According to Dr. Saba, results of the microbial analysis of the gizzard samples revealed that none of the sampled product had Salmonella.

He asserted that the result was quite an intriguing one considering the alarm that have been raised on the product. Nonetheless, I wish to add that this result only reflects on samples that have been collected from cold stores within the Tamale metropolis and should not be generalized for other gizzard samples from retail outlets or points and/or locations outside our study catchment.

In a closing statement, he called on other collaborators and government supports to have an intermittent surveillance on the product (gizzard) as well as extending the survey to the other regions making the northern Ghana.

Report By: Paa Kwesy (Radio Grin 94.7FM, paakwesy@gmail.com/ +233246903245)