Kilifi North Member of the National Assembly, Owen Baya, has raised concerns regarding the quality of food supplied in the country noting that more policies need to be established to guarantee food safety.
This disclosure was brought to light during discussions among MPs concerning the Food and Feed Safety Control Coordination Bill on Tuesday, August 15.
A member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party, Baya conveyed to his fellow legislators that he possesses knowledge of a foreign billionaire who transports food from his own nation whenever he visits Kenya due to apprehensions surrounding food safety in Kenya.
Reportedly, the billionaire chooses to load his private jet with imported commodities that he then indulges in, rather than eating in Kenya.
“The tourism sector is actually losing high end tourists because they are not sure about the safety of food in this country,” the MP lamented.
The Kilifi MP asserted that the products most significantly impacted by this issue are milk and meat.
He highlighted that a considerable number of tourists exhibit caution when considering the purchase of substandard meat or milk. These two commodities, while popular, also bear an increased susceptibility to contamination.
“Food safety means a safe country. The safety of this country is not about the army, is not about the police. The safety can also be determined by the kind of food that is supplied,” the MP asserted.
The legislator now wants the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) to intensify surveillance to ensure all goods supplied in the country are safe and meet the required standards.
He emphasised that substandard foods present a significant peril to the well-being of Kenyan citizens, urging the government to tackle this concern with heightened urgency.
The MP highlighted that school-going children face an elevated vulnerability to consuming unsafe food and advocated for the implementation of more rigorous measures to oversee and standardize school food.
Other MPs called out unscrupulous food vendors who take advantage of the lack of strict testing policies, to sell sub-standard foods.
Currently, parliamentarians are deliberating whether to approve the Food and Feed Safety Control Coordination Bill. If passed, this legislation could establish a safety policy aimed at regulating food standards.
