NAIROBI,Kenya Sep 19-Shocking revelations have shown that Kenyans might be consuming substandard cooking oil across the country.
Details revealed by the Kenya Bureau of Standard showed that imported edible oils already in the market have failed the quality test.
Documents before the Senate trade committee showed that Kenya National Trading Corporation contracted suppliers who imported edible oil on diverse dates between May 2023 and November 2023.
The imported edible oil had a certificate of conformity to the Kenyans standards in the documents tabled before the committee.
However,spot checks done in the market revealed that the products were substandard.
A survey done by KEBS detailed that a total of 73 consignments of edible cooking oil from Malaysia al accompanied with Certificate of Conformity (CoC) entered the country.
Out of these a total of 44 consignments have been approved in KEBS Import Management System (KIMS), while 23 consignments are yet to be declared or entered by the importer (clearing agent) to Customs.
A test of eight sample from the 44 consignments that had been cleared were tested by KEBS and shockingly failed the local standards quality tests.
This was equal to 5.88 million litres of the total 21 million litres of edible oils that were imported into the country.
The remaining 6 consignments are in submission stage and are yet to be approved for release by KEBS but shockingly they are missing from KNTC warehouse with speculation that they been released to the market.
KEBS managing director Esther Ngari said that out of the 44 consignments, KEBS targeted eight consignments for destination inspection.
“Out of the eight sampled consignments, a total of seven failed in vitamin A while one consignment failed in both insoluble impurities and Vitamin A,” Ngari said.
Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah demanded answers on why four of the rejected consignment came from Multi Commerce FZC, three from Inno Wangs which were not available in the supplier list.
Kiambu senator Karungo Thangwa queried why KEBS failed to implement the law by ensuring that the substandard cooking oil was destroyed
The law granting a 30-day period for return policy or destruction in the event imported goods are found to be sub-standard.
Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago questioned why the standards body failed to recall all the imports after all the samples failed the tests.
“Now when you do something and you find out of 10, seven samples have failed what does that say about KEBS,? Would you still go ahead and approve the rest of the shipment or the sample should act as a redflag,” Mandago posed.
Quality Assurance and Inspection director at KEBS Geoffrey Murira explained that most of the shipment came with a certificate of conformity.
“I do not a definite number of how many jerikans were picked from each sample. But I’m saying there is a specific number that was drawn based on scientific representation,” he said.
The probe revealed that that several consignments of edible oil imported through contracted suppliers were rejected by the standards body between May and November 2023.
The Senate Committee chaired Senator Lenku Ole Kanar directed KEBS to submit the letters showing that they had raised concerns with the imported cooking oil.
Source: capitalfm
