Sela Panapasa says inexpensive high-fat foods imported to the Republic of Samoa — for example, Spam, mutton flaps, and turkey tails — are the kinds of foods that have contributed to Samoa’s high rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. A 2007 ban on several such products, however, is being lifted to comply with WTO rules on importation, although tariffs on turkey tails, the subject of this discussion, will remain high for several years to discourage consumption.

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