Kenyans could have been exposed to yet another substandard commodity after the Kenya National Bureau of Standards (KEBS) flagged about 32 million litres of oil which is currently being sold in several parts of the country disguised as local brands.
In the latest expose, KEBS Managing Director Esther Ngari, while appearing before parliamentarians, informed the legislators that the cooking oil which was bought by the government last year, was never authenticated by the agency.
The government reportedly imported 53 million litres of cooking oil from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Egypt between May and August last year.
According to Ngari, 44 containers out of the 73 imported oil containers never met the requisite KEBS requirements.
A picture of KEBS MD Esther Ngari addressing the SRC Conference on wage bill reduction.
Photo
KEBS
She informed the committee that the said consignment failed to meet the minimum requirement of vitamin A and other essential nutrients.
“We tested about eight consignments and the results we had showed failure,” Ngari informed the committee.
“As far as KEBS is concerned, these consignments were rejected and therefore KNTC (Kenya National Trading Corporation) could not sell them out,” she added.
It is worth noting that a lack of vitamin A in food commodities could lead to potential eye problems, stunted growth and even possible skin problems.
Nonetheless, KEBS claimed that it was impossible to stop the oil from accessing the market since the importers had valid documents issued to them by the manufacturers showing that the oil contained critical minerals.
“If goods arrive with certificates of conformity, they normally get into the country, we do not do retests,” Esther Ngari commented.
“Did we destroy the consignment after thirty days? the answer is no and the reason is by the end of the 30 days the cooking oil was subject to investigation.
Upon access of the cooking oil to the market, several companies that deal in the supply of such a commodity purchased the oil for retail services.
A stock photo of bottled cooking oil on sale at a supermarket.
Photo
istock
