Avoid Tilapia If Not Confident Of The Source―FDA

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has advised the public to the meantime, stay away from tilapia especially when the source cannot be traced.

This advice follows the mystery tilapia death on a Chinese farm at Asutuary in the Shai-Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region.

About 18 tonnes of tilapia are reported to have died. So far, the cause of death is unknown as wild claims surface over a possible outbreak of the Tilapia Lake Virus.

Some pictures had also surfaced on social media which showed some women trying to smuggle the dead fishes and according to the FDA, it is possible that some of the confinement may have gotten to the markets.

“It will be difficult to know if some of that tilapia has gone to the market…I know the police are there together with other institutions to ensure that this doesn’t happen.

“The only advise we would give to the general public is that, if you patronise tilapia and you are not so confident of the source of the tilapia that is on the market, at the moment, the best thing is to avoid it,” The Head of Public Affairs of the FDA, James Lartey advised.

This however, according to him is not ban on tilapia but just caution to the general public.

“As a consumer, if you like tilapia and for some reasons, you cannot ascertain the source of the tilapia that you may buy, the best is to avoid,” Mr. Lartey stressed.

Meanwhile, investigations are ongoing to ascertain the cause of deaths.

The Ministry for Fisheries and Aquaculture has also shut down the Chinese fish farm in which these deaths were recorded but also cordoned off the entire stretch of the cage farm.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey