{"id":20413,"date":"2022-04-17T15:55:11","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T15:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=20413"},"modified":"2022-04-17T15:55:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T15:55:11","slug":"ghanaian-traveling-with-bat-meat-prekese-and-kwahu-nsusua-prevented-at-washington-dulles-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/04\/17\/ghanaian-traveling-with-bat-meat-prekese-and-kwahu-nsusua-prevented-at-washington-dulles-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghanaian traveling with bat meat, \u2018prekese\u2019 and \u2018Kwahu Nsusua\u2019 prevented at Washington Dulles Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers inspecting luggage at Washington Dulles International Airport recently discovered an unusual find: three and a half pounds of bat meat, \u2018Dankwansere\u2019.<\/p>\n

The charred meat was found in the baggage of a passenger from Maryland arriving from Ghana, on April 5, CBP said in a\u00a0news release.<\/p>\n

Bat meat is considered \u201cbushmeat,\u201d which can carry infectious diseases, and is therefore prohibited from entering the United States, according to the\u00a0Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u00a0(CDC).<\/p>\n

In addition to bat meat, the traveler was also carrying prohibited plants in his luggage, including 12 pounds of tetraplura, popularly known as Prekese, (a flowering plant from West Africa), turkey berries also known as Kwahu Nsusua (yellow-green, pea-sized berries), and eggplants, authorities said.<\/p>\n

The plants were seized and destroyed, and the meat was turned over to the CDC for further inspection, the CBP said. The traveler was released.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cCustoms and Border Protection agriculture specialists play a very challenging frontline role in protecting the public, our nation\u2019s agricultural industries, and our economic vitality every day against the deliberate or accidental introduction of potentially crippling animal diseases that may be carried in passenger baggage,\u201d Daniel Escobedo, CBP\u2019s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Washington, DC, said in the release.<\/p>\n

\"A
A bat\u2019s skeleton can be seen in the bottom left in this x-ray image of the traveller\u2019s baggage
\nU.S. Customs and Border Protection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bushmeat has been linked to the spread of\u00a0Ebola, as humans may be exposed to the virus when hunting, butchering and eating infected animals, according to the CDC. Bats, in particular, have been suggested as\u00a0one possible source of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Despite these concerns, the bushmeat trade continues to grow due to food insecurity, among other issues.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers inspecting luggage at Washington Dulles International Airport recently discovered an unusual find: three and a half pounds of bat meat, \u2018Dankwansere\u2019. The charred meat was found in the baggage of a passenger from Maryland arriving from Ghana, on April 5, CBP said in a\u00a0news release. Bat meat is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":20414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1648,147,5754,8299,7024,9204,5982,5222,5200,12950,11403,8097,6496,192,4521,9657,10954,5926,2603,11973,5485,10302,11082,9036,8204,6431,12778,10329,11978,2570,5983,9262,6348,2354,5981,10353],"class_list":["post-20413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-africa","tag-agriculture","tag-airport","tag-animal","tag-animals","tag-border","tag-bush-meat","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-customs","tag-disease","tag-ebola","tag-food","tag-ghana","tag-ghanaian","tag-hunting","tag-international","tag-kwahu","tag-maryland","tag-one","tag-pandemic","tag-plant","tag-port","tag-pounds","tag-prevention","tag-release","tag-seized","tag-trade","tag-traveller","tag-turkey","tag-u-s-customs-and-border-protection","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-washington","tag-west-africa","tag-x"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}