A poultry farm expert, Oduware Efe, on Monday warned against the consumption of imported frozen chicken to avoid negative effect on the health of consumers.

Oduware, who gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) in Lagos encouraged Nigerians to patronise the locally processed chicken instead.

He said there were multiple inherent dangers of consuming imported frozen chicken, because of the chemicals used in their preservation process.

“There are so many negative effects of consuming imported frozen chicken as it relates to the health of consumers. Generally, they are not healthy for consumption when compared to freshly prepared chickens.

“It has been analyzed by the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), University of Ibadan and other research institutes across the country that the chemicals used in the preservation of these imported chickens are dangerous to human health.

“These preservatives are done in these foreign countries to make sure the chickens have a longer shelf life, so it does not get contaminated.

“However, the issue of storage and cold-chain transportation will make the chickens lose their value following hitches encountered during transportation.

“The chemicals used to preserve dead bodies are the same being used to preserve the imported frozen chicken. The preservatives in the chicken contain heavy metals that are not good for the body.

“These metals have negative ripple effects on our internal organs such as kidneys, livers and even the lungs,” he said.

Oduware also harped on the negative impact of consuming frozen imported chickens on the economy, calling on Nigerians to appreciate locally processed chickens in spite of the cost.

“The consumption of imported frozen chicken also has a negative impact on the economy of the country.

“When we import, we take jobs from Nigerians who are involved in the poultry value chain which involves production, processing and marketing of locally bred chicken.

“We are killing the local economy when we consume imported frozen chickens. We have to preserve the jobs of these Nigerians by patronizing our locally processed chickens.

“Although frozen chickens are listed among banned goods by the government, but we still see them smuggled into the country. The government should put in place strict measures to curtail it.

“The problem is that Nigerian consumers have a penchant for imported frozen chicken because of its hard meat, and low-income earners prefer it because of its affordability.

“Most of the imported frozen birds are offal, which is the rejected ones from their processing farms, which they do not want to circulate in their market,” Oduware said. (NAN)