Amount of chickens seized now almost 1,000 tonnes, US$1.3 million – INAE

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Amount of chickens seized now almost 1,000 tonnes, US$1.3 million – INAE

7:28 CAT | 11 Apr 2017

The amount of imported chicken seized by the Mozambican authorities has risen to almost 1,000 tonnes, according to Maria Rita Freitas, General Inspector of the National Inspectorate of Economic Activities (INAE).

A week ago, Freitas had announced the seizure of 536 tonnes of chickens and chicken derivatives. But in the following days, INAE brigades continued to visit supermarkets and other establishments, banning the sale of any imported chickens they found.

Speaking at a Maputo press conference on Monday, Freitas said the amount seized now stands at 979 tonnes, valued at 86 million meticais (about 1.3 million US dollars). These goods are being stored in sealed bags in freezers belonging to their owners, and the ban on selling them may be lifted if the laboratory inspections currently under way show that the chickens are fit for human consumption.

Samples have been sent for analysis to laboratories in South Africa and Portugal. Freitas expected the first results of these analyses to arrive this week. “If it is shown that the products are detrimental to human health, then they will be incinerated”, she promised.

Imported chickens were seized in every province except Niassa, in the far north, Freitas said. The largest amounts were seized in Maputo city, the northern port of Nacala and the central province of Sofala.

The decision to ban the imports of chicken was taken at the end of March, following the scandal of the “Carne Fraca” (“Rotten Meat”) operation in Brazil, when the Brazilian Federal Police found that some companies in the meat and chicken industries had corrupted health inspectors and used preservatives to pass off rotting produce as fit for consumption.

The ban affects all imported chickens because Brazilian chickens are sometimes repackaged and relabeled in other countries. There is thus no guarantee that chickens apparently from Europe or South Africa are not, in fact, Brazilian chickens.

Source: AIM