The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) is at war with turkey tail hawkers and retailers.
There is increased demand for turkey tail locally called ‘chofi’ and it is a booming business in areas such as Suhum-Nsawam stretch of the Accra-Kumasi highway, Accra-Cape Coast road as well Accra-Akosombo road. Some traders have engaged in the ‘chofi’ business for more than 35years.
The FDA argues that, the fatty delicacy is unhealthy and existing law (which came to force in 1999) makes the commercialization of ‘chofi’ illegal.
In fulfilment of their mandate to safeguard public safety, the FDA has seized boxes of turkey tail from sellers in the Eastern Region particularly Suhum and Nsawam.
The authority announced on social media platform X that ‘As part of the FDA’s activities to ensure a healthier Christmas, our Eastern Regional Office in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service, has organized a swoop at Suhum and Nsawam to confiscate turkey tail, popularly known as Chofi, being offered for sale. It would be recalled that the product has been banned in Ghana since 1999’.
In 2010, the FDA attempted to enforce the ban on ‘chofi’ but some hawkers in the Nsawam Adoagyire in the Eastern Region resisted it, warning ‘should government collapse our business, we will have no other option than to stand by the roadside and hawk (with our) bodies, we will become prostitutes’. SOURCE: Kasatintin.com
