Target: Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Manso Opuni, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Food and Drugs Authority, Accra, Ghana.
Goal: Take action to protect animals from the dangers of spoiled or unwholesome foods and raise public awareness regarding the negative health consequences.
Authorities warn that some members of the public give unwholesome or spoiled food to animals, a practice that can inflict suffering and cause toxic build-up. Such toxins can enter the human food chain when those animals become meat. This pattern places animals at risk of pain, illness, and neglect while exposing families to preventable disease.
Spoiled food is sometimes passed to pets or livestock rather than properly discarded. Animals subjected to this may endure gastrointestinal illness, parasites, or poisoning. Regulators have publicly emphasized that food unfit for humans should not be given to animals, yet violations persist and appear widespread, especially after events and in informal catering.
Immediate, visible enforcement is needed. Strong inspections, clear penalties, and rapid seizures where animals are endangered would deter repeat offenses. A national awareness campaign, hotlines, and market surveillance can backstop enforcement. The goal is simple and urgent: require that any food given to animals be safe and lawful, and impose meaningful penalties when it is not.
PETITION LETTER:
Professor Frimpong-Manso Opuni,
We respectfully urge the Food and Drugs Authority to act decisively on reports that spoiled or unwholesome food is being given to animals. This causes animal suffering and can lead to toxic accumulation that reaches human households through the food chain.
Please direct immediate nationwide inspections at high-risk points, including events, informal caterers, and disposal sites, and pursue penalties where violations are found. Where animals appear endangered, authorize swift seizure and veterinary evaluation. Coordinate with Veterinary Services and local assemblies so enforcement is consistent and humane.
We also ask for an urgent public-awareness campaign that makes the rule unmistakable, opens hotlines for tips, and warns of fines, confiscations, and potential criminal referrals when animals are fed unsafe waste. Animals deserve basic care and safe food. Ghanaians deserve protection from avoidable health risks. Prompt, visible action can deliver both.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Mark Stebnicki
