The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control stated it caught massive quantities of harmful animal hides and skins known as “Ponmo” in Lagos State, with seven merchants in the agency’s custody.
Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the agency’s Director-General, cautioned the public at large, particularly ‘Ponmo‘ buyers, about the operations of some crooked business people and dealers who sell industrial animal hides as food.
NAFDAC Investigation and Enforcement officials conducted an intelligence-gathering around particular places where the suspected items were warehoused and marketed, according to Adeyeye, who was quoted in a statement by Sayo Akintola, NAFDAC’s Resident Media Consultant, in Lagos on Sunday.
The statement reads in part, “This was in response to several complaints received from the public, pertaining to alleged sale and distribution of imported hides and skins meant for use in leather industries and which had already been processed with industrial chemicals.
“These hides and skins are then sold to unsuspecting public as consumable animal skin products, otherwise called Ponmo.
“Monitoring was also extended to some buyers who patronize the sellers and custodians of the warehouse,” she said, stating that earlier investigations revealed that some of the hides and skins were “imported illegally and sometimes diverted to some merchants of death who re-process the hides and skins and further sell them as consumable Ponmo to the public”.
Reacting to the revelations, she stated that the agency recently launched investigative raids in Lagos State, where market women and men were seen gathered to buy the leftovers from warehouses.
She stated that huge quantities of the goods (120 tons) were intercepted at six separate sites and that seven people are currently being investigated for their roles in the crimes.
The NAFDAC chief went on to say that samples of the products had been sent to a lab for testing in order to determine their quality and unwholesomeness.
“The street value of the product currently intercepted is estimated to be around N25.330m only,” she said.