The consumption of 'Brukina' is low from the perspective of vendors.

A walk through the 'Brukina' joint by sompaonline reporter Eric Murphy in Tafo shows little to virtually no exhibition of locally-made products after research conducted by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research at the University of Ghana found that some samples of 'brukina' and the millet and dairy milk used to prepare the drink contain unacceptable levels of aflatoxins that can cause cancer after continuous intake.

Brukina traders at Tafo in the Ashanti Region are bemoaning low patronage of their products.

The traders are complaining of low patronage coupled with the research which is preventing their customers to buy their products.

A trader of the 'Brukina' called Adiza told Murphy at the Tafo market on Sunday August 7th, 2022, that "business is poor after the research."

She said "We have run at a loss. The drinks are ready and people are not patronizing them.

"People have been drinking the Brukina drinks for a long time and nothing has happened to them but now no one is buying. Maybe those who do not know how it tastes will fear to drink but it's safe to drink 'Brukina'". She said.

Adiza stated that the producers use millet as well as cow milk in preparing the 'Brukina' adding that the samples the researchers took may be from the traders on the street but Tafo Zongo traders use natural ingredients to prepare the 'Brukina'.

Another trader known as Awalatu also believed that the research is an attempt by a company to sabotage their business.

"This is the doing of a company. We will not sit down for them to run our business down. We have been doing this for a long time. We feed it to our family and nothing has happened. A company wants to disgrace us and render us jobless and we will not stand for it," she noted.

She, however, called on the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research to conduct another research on 'Brukina' again.

"We are giving the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research 3 days to come and clear the air about the 'Brukina'. They should come and conduct the research in Kumasi because Kumasi is also part of Ghana," Awalatu added.

Brukina is a millet-based fermented milk product that is consumed as a beverage and it is a type of smoothie produced and consumed in Ghana with no exception.

It is however prone to aflatoxin contamination, which is a serious health challenge for low and middle-income countries in subtropical regions.

For the study, 'brukina' samples were purchased from 'brukina' producers monthly over a period of 7 months.

Source…sompaonline.com/Eric Murphy Asare