Ignore False Alarm . . . Our Tilapia Is Safe - Ministry Of Fisheries

Deputy Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Kingsley Ato Cudjoe has urged the public to eat tilapia without fear regardless the alleged news about steroid tilapia in the Ghanaian market.

According to him, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture has Water and Research unit which is looking into the tilapia allegations making news on social media platforms.

Speaking on Okay FM’s A'de Akye Abia' Morning Show, Hon. Ato Cudjoe averred that the allegation may have trickled down into the country from Singapore and Egypt, putting fear into Ghanaians that the tilapia in the country is poisonous.

He indicated that there is a law which does not allow the importation of tilapia into the country as it may compete with the local tilapia business; thus, there is constant surveillance to ensure no foreign tilapia flood the Ghanaian market.

“We saw some information on the social media platforms talking about this tilapia steroid. But you see, sometimes I don’t understand why some people do that because for all you know, it started from Singapore and Egypt and it has trickled down to the country, creating panic in the market,” he stated.

He feared that such wild allegation which has no evidence backing may affect Ghanaians who are into the tilapia business, using the right and genuine way of producing good tilapia for public consumption; reiterating that they have invested a lot of money into tilapia business.

“This news about tilapia can destroy people’s investment. There have been many issues for instance relating to rice being rubber but they turned out to be false alarm. For now, we don’t have any evidence that there is poisonous tilapia in the country. We are going to investigate and so if anybody has evidence to that effect, they can bring it to our office,” he assured.

“I want Ghanaians to know that the tilapia in the country is good for consumption and those who want to eat tilapia can go ahead to consume them; it is safe to eat tilapia for now,” he reassured.