Posted on June, 26, 2019 at 10:17 am
By Harrison Kivisu - MediaMax Network
Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) has embarked on a nationwide crackdown on sale and manufacture of unregulated food products to cushion Kenyans from harmful additives.
The agency has also intensified pre-shipment inspections of food-related products to avert infiltration of counterfeits into the Kenyan markets.
Principal Standards Officer at Kebs, Peter Mutua warned that local product manufacturers will be de-registered and licences scrapped in an event where their food additives are found unsafe. The move by the standards agency comes in the wake of its recent appointment as the sole government’s lead in coordinating inspection of goods in the country of origin and issuance of enriched Certificate of Conformity (CoCs) by Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua.
Certificate of Conformity will become effective on June 30. This means that once cargo is issued with the certificate in the country of origin, it will not be subjected to another inspection on arrival as is the case currently.
“We have intensified pre-shipment inspections to ensure food additives products that enter the country through our entry points are safe to use. In an event we have counterfeited scenarios, we confiscate the products and completely take them out of the market,” said Mutua.
Source: MediaMax Network