Kenya Dairy Board issues alert over contaminated milk in the market

The Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) has issued an alert over the sale of contaminated milk powder in the country.

According to KDB, a big number of milk importers in Kenya are not registered and most of their products are unapproved, which poses a great risk to consumers.

An article appearing in Business Daily listed Ruiru-based Alidi Kenya Limited, Safacom Trading Company, RH Devani Company, Jacky’s Kenya, and Roza Kind East Africa among those mentioned by KDB as unregistered importers.

Some of the milk powder on sale had previously been declared unfit for human consumption owing to the presence of adulterants such as melamine, heavy metals such as lead and radioactive materials.

In a statement signed by the acting managing director Humphery Maina, KDB said that some of these brands cannot be traced, verified or tied to any of the permits the board issued in the recent past.

However, the board has embarked on removing these products from the retail market and to prefer charges against the traders.

“The quality and safety of such products cannot be verified as there were no regulatory controls during the importation process,” he said.

Alidi Kenya Limited is the first Russian logistics and distribution company to start up in Africa which launched operations in Kenya in 2013 and has since been appointed by Nestlé as the sole distributor of its products in Kenya.

In the report, the board said, “There is need to investigate Nido brands to confirm if they are original products of Nestlé.”

Nido is a brand trusted by most mothers as it offers a complete range of milk and milk-based products that offer nutrition solutions for each stage of childhood.

This decision comes barely a year after a court overturned a ban by the Indian Government to sell Nestlé noodles in the country.

KDB said most of the unknown brands on sale in the market are usually rebranded to disguise them as certified products from United Arab Emirates.

“The source of the smuggled milk powder is most likely Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate,” said the board.

There are many brands of powdered milk available in the local market whose origin is unkown to the common mwananchi.

Some of the unknown brands include Nido, Hilwa, Hayat, Hilla, Nura, Anchor, Coast, Aaron, Cow Gate, SMA and Nafdac.

The regulator also listed the following brands among those certified as unfit for human consumption: Kenya Highland, Hayat, Hilwa, Emborg and Dutch Lady.