The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has cautioned the public against the consumption of dead fish washed ashore.
According to the FDA, the consumption of dead seafood washed ashore must be approached with caution as the cause of death of the fish may adversely affect the health of the consumer.
The Director of Communications of FDA, Mrs Rhoda Appiah gave the advice in a statement issued and copied to the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday.
“There are many factors that contribute to dead fish on the shores; pollution of waters, natural predators, and increasing warm levels of the water that cause suffocation of the fish and lead to their death,” she added.
The advice followed a video which had gone viral showing the carcass of a whale washed ashore in Tema in the Greater Accra where consumers slicing portions to be used for cooking.
“When fish dies through chemical poisoning, the chemical in question can be passed on to the consumer or converted into a more toxic chemical during preparation either cooking, smoking, frying, of the meal which then causes food poisoning in the consumer,” she said.
She noted that if the death of fishes was caused by zoonotic pathogens either a germ that was able to cause disease in both animals and human beings, consumers of that fish were likely to face the same fate as the fish.
The Communications Director stated that zoonotic diseases were illnesses that could be transferred from animals to humans, adding that most zoonotic diseases in fish were caused by bacterial infections and could be transmitted to humans through direct contact with both live and dead fish.
Mrs Appiah said the effects of zoonotic disease ranged from mild to severe which might sometimes result in death.
“Dead fish deteriorates very rapidly when exposed to heat and ambient weather conditions. Deteriorating fish has been known to cause severe cases of food poisoning,” she added.
She said although whale meat had been proven to be edible, recent studies had shown that whales carry a lot of mercury in their bodies due to their feeding on large amounts of smaller fish.
“The highest allowable average concentration for mercury in humans is 0.46 microgram /gram per week whereas the mercury levels in the liver of whales are 370 micrograms /grams, which is an indication of the concentration of mercury in the body of the whale thus, the safety of whale meat for consumption by humans cannot be guaranteed,’’ she added.
She said mercury poisoning caused tremors, headaches, difficulty sleeping, impaired sensations, kidney damage, and breathing difficulties.
BY ANITA NYARKO YIRENKYI
