POISON IN MEALIE MEAL SHOCKS KALABA
Deeply shocked and saddened by revelations that we have some mealie meal brands containing aflatoxins that cause liver damage on the market.
We demand Govt acts responsibly and gives full disclosure on the mealie meal brands found wanting before lives are lost. There should be no sacred cows.
I must remind you that a few months ago we warned the UPND Govt over the reckless and casual approach to the handling of the mealie meal crisis. This issue of “poisoned” mealie meal are some of the offshoots expected when essential commodities are in dire supply.
Harry Kalaba
President
Citizens First
Two possible sources of the contaminated Maize are as follows:
1. Briefcase Maize traders
A lot of farmers who managed t successfully grow Maize during the last drought ravaged farming season lost their crop to thefts.
Maize was prematurely harvested by these thieves before it could dry properly.
This stolen Maize must have found it’s way into the hands of desperate briefcase Maize traders who then offloaded the contaminated moisture laden contraband on to unsuspecting Millers.
Farmers were also forced to harvest early to avoid losing their precious harvest to grain thieves.
This raises more questions about Storage standards at our FRA storage facilities! Do they do routine sampling checking for moisture content and checking for possible Aflatoxin contamination? Are these records in place and how often are they Audited? We have had reports of huge amounts of grain going to waste in these storage facilities!
2. The second possible source is imported Maize. The hurried nature of doing things by politicians, putting unnecessary political pressure on inspectors who were supposed to check the Maize before it comes in.
So it’s possible there was no proper inspection of the imported Maize.
And because of political pressure, we probably don’t have enough proof that the imported Maize was contaminated because we probably don’t have inspection reports at points of entry!
Of these two, local contamination is the most likely source!
We are mismanaging ourselves poorly!
Tuchinje bane!
We have serious need for Patriotism!
We are destroying our own country so recklessly because of not observing and maintaining HIGH STANDARDS in all aspects of our lives!
Let’s invest in wisdom and practical knowledge!
Should we bring in Expatriates to manage local experts?
My surprise is the governments failure to name the brands so as to protect it’s citizens, this is totally uncalled for because it is clear they have the information by saying ten brands are affected