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Article

23 Apr 2018

Author:
Owen Khamula, Nyasa Times (Malawi)

Malawi: Govt. agency to investigate alleged use of dangerous chemical by local vendors for food preservation

"Malawi experts to test body embalming chemicals in fresh foods"

[The] Ministry of Agriculture has deployed experts to take samples of fresh foods for formalin, a chemical used in the embalming of dead bodies after the chemical traces were found in fish...[A] spokesman in the [ministry] Osborn Tsoka said the experts have been drawn from Malawi Bureau of Standards, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Mzuzu University. "The experts will take the samples from the markets of all the fresh foods. Perpetrators will be brought to book and the government will take legal action against them" [he said]. Some experts say formalin causes cancer...[An] Ethiopian Airways captain has initially bought the fish that tested positive for the chemical...It is believed that vendors buy the dangerous chemical from Kamuzu Central Hospital Mortuary.