Zambeef abides to Govt orders

ss=”f”>Zambia Daily Mail by Online Editor on 6/28/13

By TEDDY KUYELA
GOVERNMENT says it will seek further tests abroad to establish whether imported Zambeef products that have since been pulled out of shelves can be consumed.
Minister of Health Joseph Kasonde said Government will decide what action to take once the results are in  its (Government’s) hands.
Dr Kasonde was speaking in a ministerial statement in Parliament yesterday following a request for a statement on the matter.
Last week, Zambeef obeyed a Government order to recall all its imported offals that were trucked in frozen below 18 degrees after some concerns were raised.
Francis Grogan, the company chief executive officer, told the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview that the company is now trading solely in local beef products in line with a government directive.
Dr Kasonde said in this regard, Government has since sent all imported Zambeef meat products to the Regional Food Safety laboratories in South Africa to ascertain the levels of contamination of the chemical on the meat products.
He said Government will examine some Consumer Competition Protection Commission concerns about Zambeef products.
Zambeef employs directly, some 5,500 people making it the largest employer in Zambia after the mines and the public service.
It is listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM) and has been extolled as flag-carrier by the influential Economist magazine.
It is Zambia’s largest agri-business company that has subsidiaries in Ghana and Nigeria.