Corpse-embalming fluids used on chickens imported to Zimbabwe

By Veneranda Langa

Zimbabwean food outlets are reportedly selling Brazilian chicken imports which have been embalmed with chemicals normally used to preserve corpses, it has been learnt.

Embalming chemicals are a variety of preservatives, sanitising and disinfectant agents and additives used in modern embalming to temporarily prevent decomposition and restore a natural appearance for viewing a body after death.

A mixture of these chemicals is known as embalming fluid and is used to preserve dead bodies. Typically, embalming fluid contains a mixture of formaldehyde, methanol, and other solvents.

The imported chicken scandal has shown a trail of shadowy suppliers that is becoming murkier as the meat industry finds new ways of cutting costs.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) deputy president Davison Norupiri made the disclosure when he appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce chaired by Marondera Central MP Ray Kaukonde in Harare yesterday.

The committee had invited the ZNCC leadership together with its president Hlanganiso Matangaidze to speak on the state of the local industry.

Norupiri said there was need to protect and promote the country’s brands as imports were forcing Zimbabwean consumers to buy sub-standard products, some of which were preserved using unorthodox means.

“We have a lot of chickens coming into this country and they are sold in our supermarkets at very cheap prices as compared to our local chickens,” Norupiri said.

“However, what people do not know is that some of these chickens coming into this country from Brazil have undergone embalment which is used for dead bodies like at Doves (Funeral Services) in order to preserve them so that by the time they come into this country, they are still fresh.”

In a separate interview on the issue with NewsDay, Norupiri said embalming of chickens generated heated debate at the just-ended Zimtrade conference in Zambia last week where Comesa secretary-general Sindiso Ngwenya told delegates that chicken products mainly imported from Brazil were being embalmed to preserve them.

“Ngwenya highlighted during the conference that it was first discovered in Zambia and that they were now taking measures to curb the influx of those kinds of chicken imports. I do not really know the name of the chemical that is used, but it is used mainly on gizzards and chicken livers and it is now difficult to know if it is not used in other parts of the chicken as well,” he said.

Norupiri said the local industry was also failing to compete with smuggled goods as they were cheaper.

“Some products that are manufactured in this country are levied up to 55%, yet finished imported products that are landing in this country are charged a duty of only 10%. The policies are not friendly. We have warehouses of expired products and they are being sold at very cheap prices. We have smuggling even at commercial level and we need to make sure our borders are tight in terms of security to stop smuggling,” he said.

ZNCC chairperson for the macro-economic committee, Brains Muchemwa, said non-tariff barriers like strengthening of the supervisory role of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe should be created to curb the influx of sub-standard foods.

“For instance, if we do not like genetically modified organisms (GMO) foods, we can advocate for a situation whereby we strengthen the supervisory role of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe so that they ensure that our people have sound and proper goods and in order to protect our industry,” Muchemwa said.

Zimtrade chief executive officer Priscilla Sithembile Pilime told the committee that the country’s borders were so porous that some goods were being smuggled to appear as if they were coming from Sadc countries that Zimbabwe had trade agreements with.

“Our borders need policing because a lot of goods are coming duty free, especially on the Sadc side where we have agreements, but goods are coming from other parts of the world and smuggled to appear as if they are coming from Sadc markets,” Pilime said. NewsDay