Half of livestock feeds in Kenya fail quality tests, warns Kebs

Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) has raised the red flag over the quality of livestock feeds sold in the local market. The agency’s North Rift regional manager Vincent Cheruiyot said tests on samples of animal feeds showed that over 50 percent lacked proper formulation among other issues. He said out of 17 brands for poultry and dairy feeds tested in the region, only one met laid down standards. “From the tests, we found there is a lack of critical ingredients, especially the protein source and minerals needed by livestock farmers. This is a continuous monitoring exercise and we are engaging them to put in place corrective measures to ensure that they have met the market requirements,” stated Mr Cheruiyot. He observed that since most of the raw materials such as cotton seed cake, sunflower, sardine (Omena) and minerals are imported, this results in some manufacturers failing to ensure proper formulation. Read: Farmers' anguish as feed costs go through the roof “Most of the raw ...