Red Cross to blame for distributing contaminated food - minister

By Roseleen Nzioka

Public Health minister Ms Beth Mugo Thursday told Parliament that Kenya Red Cross is to blame for supplying contaminated food to school-going children.

In a ministerial statement, Ms Mugo said Red Cross failed to notify her ministry of the results of samples of food tested by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) that were conducted in August 2011.

Public Health Minister Beth Mugo. Photo: Standard

"Samples from Red Cross were analysed by Kebs on August 25 and the results were submitted to Red Cross on September 23 but Red Cross did not notify the ministry of the results," said the minister.

Ms Mugo was responding to a directive by Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim, who on Wednesday ordered her to explain to the House about the distribution of tainted unimix - a high protein food that comprises maize and soya which is fortified with vitamins and minerals to school children. The food was supplied to parts of Eastern, North Eastern and Coast provinces.

The minister said there was a lapse of three weeks within which time Red Cross could have notified her ministry of the presence of aflatoxin and it would have been enough time to withdraw the food before distribution.

She exonerated Proctor & Allan and Sai Millers the manufacturers of the food saying that the raw materials the companies used had been tested and analysed and certified to be fit.

She said "acceptable" levels of aflatoxin were found in the raw materials used by Proctor & Allan to manufacture the unimix.

She said Red Cross distributed the contaminated unimix to 726 schools and over 270,000 pupils.

Ms Mugo said her ministry together with Red Cross and Proctor & Allan are busy mopping up the contaminated food.

In an apparent explanation as to why Red Cross could have distributed the contaminated unimix, Ms Mugo said the country was experiencing hunger and there was an urgent need to distribute food to the hungry.

Ms Mugo said the maize used in the unimix was locally sourced from Bomet and Narok.

Regarding the health status of those who may have consumed the contaminated food in the outlined areas of distribution, Ms Mugo said that so far no child had been reported ill or dead and that the manufacturers of the food had confirmed that they would take full responsibility of any medical cases arising from the consumption of the said food.

In response to a question by Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo regarding the ownership of the companies in question, Ms Mugo said she was not aware of who the directors of the companies were.

362 metric tonnes of Unimix, manufactured by Proctor & Allan and Sai Millers as famine relief, had been recalled because it was contaminated with aflatoxin. Ms Mugo said the mop up of the contaminated food was ongoing. She said recipients of the contaminated food had been advised not to consume it.

The World English Dictionary defines aflatoxin as:

A toxin produced by the fungus Aspergillus flavus growing on peanuts, maize, etc, causing liver disease (esp cancer) in man.