MUST READ: WHY YOU SHOULD STOP EATING PONMO

MUST READ: WHY YOU SHOULD STOP EATING PONMO

Dr Sunny Ekwunife, a medical consultant at Ultra Modern Clinic, Government House, Awka, Anambra state, has said the consumption of cow skin (ponmo) is unhealthy.

Speaking with NAN on Monday, August 24, in Awka, Ekwunife said there is no truth in the claims that eating ponmo is good for the elderly.

“How can a damaged motor-tyre that has chemical components added to it while producing, add anything good to a cow skin which undergoes a process of roasting with its flame add to the human body?” he asked.

According to him, the animal skin has no proven medical or nutritional value, but rather it is unhealthy and should be put to better use.

“It is mere waste of the cow skin for our people to be consuming it by eating which is a waste on its own.

“It will be more beneficial to the economy to use it to produce lasting products as belts, shoes, so as to improve our living standard and generate funds for the benefit of the nation,” he said.

Ekwunife stated that it would be hard to stop people from consuming ponmo as result of the false information they have been fed with.

Some time last year, some Nigerians had gone ballistic following reports that the federal government may soon ban the sale and widespread consumption of ponmo, a popular delicacy to many.

The minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, said at the 3rd joint anniversary of the Animal Science Association of Nigeria (ASAN) and the Nigeria Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) had said ponmo, as it popularly called, ought to be tanned into leather for a very high dollar return to the farmer and tanneries.