Foreign goods can be intriguing, but as many countries lack the US’s food safety checks, some cuisines should be steered clear of. On Friday, March 8 on Pemba Island in the Zanzibar Archipelago, eight Tanzanian children and one adult died, and 78 others were hospitalized for eating a Tanzanian delicacy. That delicacy is called terrapin, but here it is known as sea turtle meat.
Although terrapin is considered a delicacy, in countries where it’s common officials issue caution when eating it. Authorities in Zanzibar have sent out a disaster management team, led by Hamza Hassan Juma, suggesting people to stay away from turtle meat. Eating terrapin is affiliated with chelonitoxism, which is a type of food poisoning resulting in death in major situations.
The adult who died was a mother to one of the already deceased children. A health official said the contaminated terrapin was eaten on Tuesday, March 5, taking only a few days for chelonitoxism to settle in. The victims in the hospital confirmed that they all had terrapin in their system.
This is not the first time turtle meat has caused death on Pemba Island. In November of 2021, six adults and one toddler died from eating terrapin, while three others were hospitalized.
It is still unclear what species of turtles caused these deaths, but locals believe the species isn’t supposed to be in the area. It has been said that with climate change and human poaching, sea turtles have had to change their courses. The warming off the northeast water of the US coasts causes the sea turtles to stay longer in that area, when they should be heading south for the winter. This and many other climate factors contribute to the endangerment of sea turtles.
Ever since the 1970s, the Kemp’s Ridley turtle, the world’s most critically endangered sea turtle species, has been washing up on the shores of Massachusetts beaches in cold-stunning states, where turtles become very weak and their system slowly starts to shut down from being in cold temperatures for too long. A biologist aquatic animal worker said that the numbers have increased by 700 since 2023. Tanzania is not the only place affected by the changing migration of sea turtles.
Tanzanians and other East Africans biologists are on the lookout for turtle species new to the area to help protect the species, and protect tourists and natives from wrong consumption of terrapin.
