President of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Ayoola Oduntan, yesterday said that none of its members imported raw eggs into the country. Oduntan was reacting to allegation that rotten eggs were being imported into the country, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said the only egg being imported into the country “is egg powder” and that goes to some manufacturing companies that needed them. “First of all, nobody is importing whole egg into Nigeria. How do you want to do it, is it by air, it will be too expensive. Is it by ship? It will get rotten before it gets to Nigeria and you do not freeze egg. “So, whoever that says rotten eggs are being imported into Nigeria, l don’t think that person knows what he is saying,” he said.
Oduntan said the association was worried more about smuggling of live chickens into the country, adding thatmost of those chickens, mainly layers, might have been sprayed with chemicals. “Th e association is more concerned with the smuggled chickens coming from European farms than the eggs. “Th ose live chickens are sprayed with chemicals which fi nd their ways inside the eggs.” Oduntan said eggs produced with smuggled layers would test positive to the eff ects of the chemicals. According to him, one does not need to import raw eggs to know that. He said a lot of things featured in the media and internet, adding that one should be careful believing them. “I am not aware of rotten eggs being imported into the country. I am not aware also of any plastic eggs in the market.” He said the poultry industry had many problems which the media should focus on rather than issues that would not move the industry forward.
