Bill on safety control to ensure food meets set standards

The Food Safety Bill 2021 has been given a clean bill of health by stakeholders during a validation meeting.  

The bill which aims at increasing the country’s food safety standards if passed will see the office of  Food and Feed Safety Control, created to ensure food destined for both local and international markets meet the required standards.

Stakeholders in the food sector have been faulting the 2013 food safety bill saying it only emphasizing on safety of international destined agricultural produce at the expense of locally consumed goods.

This prompted the creation of a ministerial taskforce comprising of members drawn from the ministries of Health and Agriculture to review the Bill and other food safety related legislations.

The taskforce has given Kenyans a week to present their views on the bill before, it is presented to parliament for legislation.

The food safety Bill, if passed in its current form, proposes creation of Office of Food and Feed Safety Control, which will ensure that the food that Kenyans consume are safe and complies to the international standards.

The bill is also aligned with the best food safety standards as prescribed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) , Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Health Organisation.

In a statement after the validation meeting the inter governmental task force says inadequate food safety is a significant contributor to the burden of disease in developing countries including Kenya, and should be addressed as the food system develops.

The heavy burden of food borne diseases imposes substantial economic losses to individual, households, health systems and entire nations.

Economic losses as a result of rejected food exports due to shortcomings in food safety are also often very significant. In Kenya, the nationwide food quality and safety systems are legally controlled by various government agencies under different ministries using separate laws.

These players now want standards to be harmonized and controlled by one single entity to improve food safety surveillance.