The Lagos State Government has warned residents against the consumption of poultry products in circulation at present in the state as they pose serious health risk.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Toyin Suarau, said some imported contaminated poultry products were seized and buried by the Nigeria Customs Service in Badagry area of the state. However, they were exhumed by some people who might be selling them to unsuspecting Lagosians.
Among the listed contaminated produce were chicken and turkey.
Suarau said the products had been laced with chemicals such as formalin, which is poisonous. He said it could lead to slow death.
He said the poisonous products were not as nutritious as freshly processed poultry meat because imported poultry meat had been preserved for months and years with dangerous chemicals.
Suarau said the state government would work with the Federal Government to ensure that the sensitisation exercise was successful.
Speaking earlier, a Deputy Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), John Emah, said the agency, working with the Lagos State Government, was set to be begin the sensitisation programme to draw the attention of the public to the dangers inherent in buying and consuming these poultry products.
By Pita Ochai