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Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) at Katima Mulilo border has impounded two Zambeef trucks carrying meat products imported from Ireland.
Sesheke District Commissioner Given Muleya, who confirmed this, said the meat products were imported from Ireland through the port of Walvis Bay in Namibia into Zambia’s Western Province.
Mr Muleya said the trucks were impounded on instructions from the ministry of Health.
According to Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation news monitored last night, Mr Muleya said the two trucks were carrying kidneys and liver.
Meanwhile, Government is surprised that Zambeef Products Plc opted to import beef products from the United Kingdom (UK) when Zambia has enough livestock.
Agriculture and Livestock Deputy Minister Rodgers Mwewa said Zambia had more than four million cattle, two million goats and more than a million sheep, but Zambeef still decided to import meat products from the UK.
Last week it emerged that some Zambeef products contained aromatic aldehydes, a chemical used to embalm dead bodies which could also cause organic cancer in humans.
At the weekend, the company announced that it was withdrawing the adulterated products from all its outlets.
Mr Mwewa said it would not only have been cheaper for Zambeef to buy beef and other meat products locally but it would also have empowered the local farmers.
“I am sure the cattle, goats, pigs and sheep from local farmers is enough for Zambeef to fill all their butcheries but we don’t understand how they took the option of importing,” he said.
He said it was unfortunate that this was happening to a company like Zambeef which Zambians had come to trust, especially that everybody thought it sold exclusively local products.
In a sharp turn of events, some of the seized products in Chongwe and Kitwe allegedly went missing, prompting the Zambia Institute of Environmental Health (ZIEH) to call for a further probe.
Zambeef chief executive officer Francis Grogan has insisted that the imported beef products did not contain any harmful substances, saying the ‘falsehood’ was being spread by a former employee.
