Nairobians have been eating food that has not been inspected for months after laboratories which inspect food closed down.
Food in the county has been going uninspected since the county doesn't have the capacity to conduct the irregular testing to ascertain its safety.
The County Executive Committee member in charge of health, Hitan Majevda, revealed that six laboratories supposed to conduct the tests have been out of service since they lack the appropriate chemicals.
Majevda defended himself stating: “When I took over this office in November, nothing was being done in the labs. They were run down and lacked basic equipment and reagents.”
[caption caption="Mandazi sold outside by a vendor in the city"]
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The Health CEC, however, affirmed that they are restocking the agents and will resume testing soon.
He also warned food sellers who violate safety regulations stating that the county will have their establishments closed down.
Testing is an essential part of inspection that is performed by the county which is supposed to ensure food sold is safe for consumption.
The exercise is meant to catch unscrupulous traders who either lace food with harmful chemicals or those who fail to observe basic hygiene and cleanliness standards.
Professor Grace Irimu, a Pediatric nephrologist and public health specialist at the University of Nairobi had raised an issue on the safety of some of the products sold in the city.
“Today morning, I called someone in KEMRI to see if I could have aflatoxin level checked in maize flour I bought from Nyamakima, Nairobi, last week.
[caption caption="Maize affected by weevils and aflatoxin"]
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"It is a packet of ‘unga ya baridi’ or ‘wa heho,’ very fine maize flour, used for cooking porridge. It cannot ferment. Instead, it produced a gas that made me feel dizzy. I think it has high levels of aflatoxin,” she concluded.
