The Government of Ogun State on Thursday alerted residents
to the sale of poisonous local delicacy, ‘ponmo’ in markets
across the state.
The state government alleged that ‘some unscrupulous
businessmen’ attempting to exploit the current scarcity of
cattle hide and skin used in preparing the, popularly called
‘ponmo’ have resorted to selling industrial hide and skin,
already treated with tanning chemicals to unsuspecting
members of the public.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun
who addressed a press conference on the sale of the
unhealthy and dangerous ‘ponmo’, disclosed that such cattle
hides and skin had been treated with tanning chemicals such
for the production of leather and unfit for human consumption.
Sokefun, however, said the state Ministry of Agriculture and
the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and
Control (NAFDAC) had already commenced investigation into
the development and had been on the trail of the importers of
the unhealthy ‘ponmo’.
The commissioner also disclosed that the officials of the
ministry had been in ‘strategic liaisons’ with the state Ministry
of Health and the Environmental Health Departments of the 20
local government areas to confiscate the unhealthy ‘ponmo’
from all markets in the state.
[NAN]