• Menengai Millers director Patrick Mwangi says fortification has been a challenge.
• Mwangi blames unavailability of fortification machines.
Image: Ben Ndonga
Maize millers from Rift Valley and Nyanza regions have urged the government to standardise materials used to fortify maize products for consumer safety.
Fortification, the practice of increasing the content of a micronutrient such as vitamins and minerals in a food to improve its nutritional quality, is a legal requirement in Kenya.
The millers said product analysis have shown discrepancies originating from the manufacturers of the premixes.
“The government should consider standardising premixes used in fortification to ensure millers produce safe and nutritious products in order to safeguard health of all consumers,” Nakuru-based Menengai Millers director Patrick Mwangi said.
Mwangi said fortification has been a challenge due to the unavailability of fortification machines, while the available ones are very expensive.
They also called on the government to put in place proper mechanisms as they commence engagement with millers on fortification of maize flour.
They spoke on Wednesday last week in Nakuru during a fortification training organised by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in partnership with the government.
Stakeholders including the Kenya Bureau of Standards attended the event to offer tips that would ensure millers produce quality products that have no chemical effects to the consumers.
A according to a new study by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, nearly half of the maize millers in Kenya do not add essential minerals and vitamins to their flour products.
The country has prioritised fortification of salt, maize and wheat flour, as well as fats and oils.
According to the study findings, while all large scale millers were found to be fortifying, only 46 per cent of medium scale millers fortify their products.
The situation was worse among small scale millers where just 24 per cent reported adding the mandatory micronutrients to the flours.
Project’s Coordinator, Prof. Daniel Sila identified skills gap, lack of equipment and high cost of pre-mixes, as some of the hurdles among small and medium scale millers to fortification compliance.
He said that the government was working with a number of partners to ensure small and medium scale millers are facilitated to comply.
As a way of lessening the compliance burden, Prof. Sila says JKUAT now offers free sample analysis for both maize and wheat flour to local millers.
The move, the don revealed, was a result of the establishment of the Kenya National Food Fortification Reference Laboratory, which is now operational at JKUAT.
(Edited by O. Owino)