The Ho Municipal Environmental Health Department has discarded a total of 128 contaminated mudfish seized by law enforcement and regulatory bodies including Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).

A joint operation by the Regional Environmental Health Unit, the Food and Drugs Authority, the Ghana Police Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency in January led to the seizure of the mudfish. 

The seizure followed a piece of information law enforcement and regulatory bodies received that a group of men were seen harvesting mudfish in a storm drain under a culvert near Tarso Hotel in Ho. The seized fish underwent a forensic analysis (water analysis test) which revealed that they were not safe for consumption.

 The fish were buried after they were left to reach a decomposing state to prevent people from desiring to exhume them secretly for sale to the public. 

Ms. Stella Kumedzro, the Regional Environmental Health Officer, noted during the seizure that the fish were seized in the interest of the public, as the probability of E. coli and Salmonella infection was likely. She stated that the catch would be subjected to series of tests and depending on the results it would be either discarded or returned to the fishermen. 

Furthermore, Ms. Kumedzro expressed the fear that the fish from the drain might have already reached the public as a result of that surveillance was being heightened throughout the region. 

Mr Gorden Akurugu, Volta Regional Head of the FDA, who was also part of the team, indicated that there were high levels of microbes and the presence of heavy metals in the source water that was stagnant due to the harmattan, making the fish unwholesome.