Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) said turkey tail, locally known as “tsofi,” continues to appear on the market more than two decades after it was banned due to the difficulty of fully eliminating it from the country’s food supply chain.
The product was prohibited in 1999 over health concerns linked to its high fat content and associated risks of obesity, hypertension and heart disease, according to health authorities.
Despite the ban, it continues to surface in parts of the country’s frozen food markets and cold stores, prompting renewed regulatory concern.
Speaking to Citi News, Roderick Kwabena Daddey-Adjei, Deputy Chief Executive in charge of the FDA’s Food Division, said the product is often concealed within imported frozen food consignments, making detection difficult.
“It might be that people will use some unapproved routes. Some will even be able to use the port. But like I said, it is frozen and then it is mixed up with other items in the consignment,” he said.
He added that inspections were not always comprehensive due to the nature of sampling procedures, but said authorities had stepped up “side verification inspections” on frozen imports to curb the practice.
