Good food choices contribute to building a healthier Kenya. It is a common practice in Kenyan homes at night when families gather around to eat their simple dishes of ugali, vegetable dish, legumes, or porridge.
Though these are staple foods for millions, experts suggest that what makes an ordinary balanced meal a health hazard or vice versa is more frequently how safe, processed, and handled the food is from farm to table.
Consumers can be food and nutrition safety champions themselves by making informed decisions to choose safer food products. This time of calling for attention and action is happening when there’s an escalating problem with aflatoxins in cereals, a major hurdle that compromises access to safe food and endangers human health by, for example, causing cirrhosis and stunted growth in children.
Cereal Millers Association Chief Executive Officer Paloma Fernandes says that to minimise this, the steps start way before harvesting. Farmers need to adopt better agricultural practices, including proper drying and storage of maize, to reduce moisture that encourages the growth of harmful fungi.
She recommends the use of biological control technologies such as Aflasafe, a product applied to soil that helps suppress aflatoxin-producing fungi naturally. She noted that the technology allows beneficial strains to outcompete toxin-producing fungi, significantly lowering contamination levels before crops are harvested.
“Aflasafe is a tool of biological control used by farmers to help combat those harmful moulds in crops; that’s why we’re pushing for it among farmers,”
Manufacturers say they have put a lot of resources towards the development of quality and safety of the produce to give wholesome and safe foods to the consumers.
These companies test raw material for the presence of aflatoxin, provide flour with additional vitamins and minerals, and they ensure good sanitary conditions on the processing floor. But the fact of this is that the responsible manufacturers don’t benefit from those who are doing the same, as they can still get the cheaper products.
“We have a big issue at the moment. We can’t do anything about it as we’re the only ones testing for the aflatoxin, the food in our warehouses has to be fortified, and we have to keep everything very clean,” said Fernandes
“Yet, there are those who are only concerned about the price they could make. The ones doing it well should be recognised since they don’t take shortcuts to the consumers but instead ensure their health through the use of safe and nutritious foods, ” she added
Consumers also have a crucial role to play. By purchasing flour and other food products from reputable manufacturers that comply with national food safety regulations, households can help drive demand for higher standards across the industry.
As the nation works on the improvement of its food systems in Kenya, there is a consensus among experts that in their pursuit, they have to consider consumers’ choice as a powerful factor besides farming practices and regulation.
