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BY: Edward Graham Sebbie
Through an intensified surveillance to ensure public safety, Environmental Health Officers in Assin Fosu, in the Central Region of Ghana have arrested a fish vendor selling in the market fish allegedly preserved with formalin and mosquito spray.
The operation followed a report by a staff member of the Environmental Health Department, who purchased fish from the market and during preparing realiaed that the scales were rubber-like and unusually tough.
Further probes revealed the use of formalin, a chemical typically used in preservation of corpses in the mortuary and mosquito spray, both of which pose serious health implications to consumers.
The Asin Fosu Municipal Health Director, Emmanuel Agyare, explained that exposure to formalin can cause wheezing, nausea, coughing, watery eyes, and burning sensations in the eyes, nose, and throat. He went ahead to indicate that prolonged exposure may result in skin irritation and increase the risk of cancers, particularly testicular cancer. By way of education, he warned the public to be cautious and avoid purchasing fish or meat that looks unusually clean, attracks no flies, or appears covered in a plastic-like layer, that are signs that harmful chemicals may have been used to keep them.
Mr. Agyare also urged Environmental Health Officers across the region to enhance market surveillance and enforcement to protect the public from consuming toxic food items.
Solomon Osom-Asare, the staff whose patronage uncovered the development describing his experience said, “The fish was sticky, difficult to break and the scales wouldn’t come off without applying fire. That’s when i knew something was wrong.”
Meanwhile, suspect, Ama Hannah, claimed ignorance, saying she bought the fish from Mankesim already preserved, and pleaded for leniency.
She called for broader public education to discourage the use of harmful chemicals in food preservation.
Mr. Agyare, when contacted on the way forward hinted to VoiceAfricaonline.com that a meeting with fish traders in the catchment are has been scheduled for Wednesday July 16, 2025, to elicit further information on the use of harmful chemicals in the preservation fish and deal precisely with the phenomenon.
While at that, he has alerted colleague officers in Winneba, Mankesim and Cape Coast enclaves to intensify their surveillance since majoriry of the fish come from those areas.
