Kenya: Rogue maize millers put profit above consumers' health

Rogue millers are deliberately processing aflatoxin-contaminated maize and putting it on shop shelves for quick gains, market surveillance data has revealed. Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs), the national agency that checks quality of consumer goods says its market intelligence shows that some of the manufacturers are deliberately handling harmful grains to save costs, endangering the lives of millions of consumers. The unruly processors, Kebs says, buy bad maize knowingly at lower than market prices to pad their profit margins. The poisonous flour is then offloaded to supermarket chains and retail shops at cheaper prices to entice budget-conscious consumers. In a swoop conducted last week, Kebs withdrew some 27 brands of maize meal and composite flour brands from the market in a move that deeply irked the Cereal Manufacturers Association (CMA). Kebs Director for Market Surveillance, Mr Peter Kaigwara, told Nation that the flours ordered for withdrawal from the market had high ...