Director-General, Nigerian Institute of Leather Science and Technology
(NILEST), Zaria,Dr Isuwa Adamu, on Tuesday, warned against the
consumption of animal hides and skin known locally as ponmo.
Adamu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja, that the
consumption of the product as meat substitute was dangerous to health.
According to him, scientifically, ponmo does not have any nutritional
value to human health.
“In fact, it is not advisable for you to consume ponmo in the sense that
some of the animals killed and used for ponmo actually have skin diseases.
“Some of these skin diseases are such that boiling them ordinarily, may
not kill the bacteria,’’ Adamu said.
He added that some of the animals killed had been ill and undergoing injections
but the rearers went ahead to kill them, leaving the buyers vulnerable to
chemicals in the animal skin.
“Some of the animals, because of the ailments that they have gone
through, are sometimes treated by way of injection with chemicals.
“People don’t allow these chemicals to complete its cycle and be removed
from the body; they sometimes go ahead to kill these animals.
“So, if you consume the ponmo,
the tendency is that you are consuming the chemicals directly because the skin
part of the animal retains most of the harmful substances.
“Remember your skin is the major protective organ of your body and your
skin harbours so many of the harmful things that are supposed to penetrate into
your body,’’ he explained.
He added that the skin of animals harbour so many of the harmful waste
materials that the body secretes and boiling only could not remove some of
those wastes.
The NILEST boss said the institute was putting up efforts to sensitise
the public and advise governments on policies that will help to reduce the
consumption of animal skin to the barest minimum.
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