Woman, 58, arrested for preparing shito with food waste, rotten items

A 58-year-old woman at Koforidua, Elizabeth Arthur, has been arrested by the police for what has been suspected to be an unhealthy way of preparing the locally-prepared pepper sauce, shito.

The woman, popularly-known as Naana, who trades in the business of selling shito in the city, was found out by some millers where she frequents to have her ingredients grinded.

This, according to a UTV reporter, Michael Akrofi, had been going on for a while until one of the millers decided to give a tip-off to the police to follow up on it.

The reporter explained that some of the items Naana uses for her shito are the peels of onions that are disposed of at ‘chop bars’.

“A miller was the first to notice this activity by the woman called Elizabeth Arthur, who is popularly known as Naana in Koforidua. She is 58 years. The millers realised that anytime she brings things to be milled, they were all rotten and unwanted things.

“The millers also know the work the woman does; she sells shito, so they were convinced that what she comes to grind is for the shito. To confirm this, the millers started observing her and truly confirmed that she was using those things to prepare her shito.

“Some of the things she sends to them are the wasted parts of onions. She does that by going there to sweep the waste with the pretext that she is going to dispose of them. When she returns home, she doesn’t even sort out the waste. She only adds some pepper to what she has, plus some ginger peels she also picks from the chop bars and then she goes to have them milled. When she is done, she prepares the shito and goes to sit by kenkey sellers to sell it.

“One of the millers eventually reported the suspicion to the police and thankfully, the police followed up on it and found her right in the act. She has since been sent to the Central Police Station,” he narrated.

The UTV reporter further explained that the middle-aged woman has since been granted bail but the police have also called on the Food and Drugs Authority, as well as well as the Standards Authority and environmental health experts to come in to help them ensure that the woman is prosecuted.

He added that the woman has been in the trade of selling shito for a very long time, supplying her product to a lot of kenkey sellers in Koforidua.

“The woman has grandchildren who she sends around to sell the shito for her,” he added.

Watch the interview below: