The Veterinary Services Department has assured the general public measures have been put in place to ensure their safety when it comes to consumption of chicken, despite an outbreak of bird flu in Ghana.
The latest case of bird flu was recorded in Greater Accra followed by Eastern and the Ashanti regions.
One of the outbreaks killed 5,431 birds out of an 11,000-strong flock on a farm in Boankra in the Ashanti region, while the other killed 5,935 out of 13,188 birds on a farm in Nkawkaw in the Eastern region.
Affected farms have since been quarantined to contain the virus.
Speaking on Morning Starr Tuesday, the Head of Public Health and Food Safety, Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture Dr Boi Kikimoto said the situation is under control.
“‘We have controlled the one in Ashanti and the Eastern region. When we went to the Ashanti region we had the support of NADMO, fire service, the assembly and even the minister was involved to assure that everything went well… we should not stop eating chicken because the situation have been controlled,” Kikimoto told Francis Abban host of the Morning Starr.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the poultry farmers association, Victor Oppong Adjei, however, said many farmers are unaware of the outbreak of the virus.
“I heard it just today and it is unfortunate, because things of that sought are communicated to us so that we will communicate to our farmers as to what to do. We have not heard anything from the ministry.
“But all the same we will work it out to see how best we can contain it. It has always been a collaboration between the association and the veterinary services,” he stated.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Doris Ekua Eshun
