Kenyans have been advised to remain alert after tests revealed that some cereals in the market contain high levels of aflatoxins, posing significant food safety and public health risks.
This comes after the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) revealed that samples collected from various markets showed aflatoxin contamination levels exceeding recommended safety standards.
KALRO, KEBS Raise Alarm Over Unsafe Aflatoxin Levels
KALRO Director General Patrick K. Kieti disclosed that some of the samples tested recorded aflatoxin contamination levels of up to 500 parts per billion (ppb), far above the maximum allowable limit of 10 ppb.
“The only acceptable limit by the World Health Organisation is 10 parts per billion. If you pass ten, it cannot be accepted,” Ketiem said during the World Food Safety Day event held on Tuesday, June 2.
“By the way, if it exceeds 10, it cannot be accepted. But in our Kenyan markets, we are seeing products with levels as high as 500 or 400. It varies, but you could easily find one with 400 or 500,” he added.
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On his part, Dr Geoffrey Muirira, Director of Quality Assurance at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), said the Bureau is stepping up surveillance of food sold in local markets to curb the sale of contaminated produce and ensure that products sold in Kenya meet the required safety standards.
“If it is not safe, it is not food, and this is the message that we want everybody to have because this is a shared responsibility. You should not consume it,” said Dr Geoffrey Muirira, Director of Quality Assurance at KEBS.
KALRO attributed part of the challenge to the high cost of food safety testing, which remains beyond the reach of many small-scale farmers and traders.
“The cost of food safety testing remains prohibitive for most farmers,” KALRO Director General Patrick K. Kieti said, calling for measures to make testing services more affordable and accessible.
KALRO and KEBS called on consumers to ask critical questions about the origin and handling of food products, including where the food was grown, what chemicals were used during production, and how it was handled before reaching the market, to help ensure food safety throughout the supply chain.
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Aflatoxin is a type of mycotoxin originating from fungi that contaminates human food and animal feeds, causing serious health effects in humans and animals.
It is a poison produced by fungi in cereal crops, including maize, peanuts, cottonseed, and tree nuts, and can cause fatal poisoning and an increased risk of cancer.
Aflatoxin has been described as a major food safety crisis in Kenya, with endemic contamination reportedly affecting key staple crops.
Kenya is one of the region’s countries that have set a maximum limit of 10 parts per billion for total aflatoxins in maize and maize products, which is similar to limits established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the East African Community.
Countries in the European Union have had to bear the brunt of excessively stringent standards for aflatoxin in maize, with a maximum limit of 4 ppb. This is the lowest, even as the US exported aflatoxin-high yellow maize cereals in the recent past.
