The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has found the presence of chlorpyrifos, a very toxic substance found in commonly used pesticides, which when ingested can cause death in the corn dough and banku that is purported to have killed five people at Akakpokope, a village in the South Tongu District in the Volta Region.
This follows a laboratory test run by the FDA on the samples of the said corn dough and banku with the results confirming the initial laboratory analysis conducted by the FDA quality control laboratory on March 7, 2018.
It may be recalled that on March 4, 2018, the Food and Drugs Authority’s (FDA’s) Volta regional office was alerted on a purported food poisoning incident involving two households after consuming banku and okro soup.
The corn dough, according to reports, was made from tailings, also known as ‘gatemewor’ by the locals which was bought from a corn mill owned by one of the affected families.
Upon receiving the information, the FDA alerted the Regional Food Borne Disease focal person, other public health experts, officials from the Ghana Health Service, municipal assembly, the Ghana Police Service and the Municipal Health Directorate and they went to the scene.
Initial investigations of the team revealed that eight people had been affected but five had passed on as at the time they arrived at the scene, and the three others were at the hospital.
“Samples of the corn dough and left over banku were taken and forwarded to the FDA quality control laboratory on Monday 5th March, 2018 for analysis of which part of same samples were sent to the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) for further analysis,” a release signed by the acting Chief Executive Officer of the FDA, Delese A. A. Darko, said.
She added that in the toxicological analysis, there is normally no fixed turn-around time as being suggested by the Consumer Advocacy Centre in their statement since the analyte is not known from the beginning.
However, Madam Darko mentioned that the FDA was forwarding its findings to the Public Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service for further action.
“As earlier communicated when the news broke out, the FDA is not mandated to determine the cause of death. This can only be established after a pathological investigation. We wish to state emphatically that as a regulator, we need to be factual in every information put out to the public in order to avoid creating fear and panic,” she added.
The FDA assured the public that there is no cause for alarm as the corn mill from which the corn dough was sourced remains closed and the situation is under control.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri