Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki has advised Kenyans to shun eating red meat altogether.
Kariuki has instead said it is high time Kenyans went back to eating traditional foods to help fight the high burden of non-communicable diseases in the country.
Her comments come after reports that supermarkets were using chemicals to elongate the shelf life of red meat.
“From a health point, we are being encouraged to move away from this kind of diet; that every day for Kenyans is nyama choma or red meat that you have boiled. We are being encouraged to move more towards a more vegetable-based diet as it were for a long time,” Kariuki said.
She said she was in touch with Cofek, an organisation responsible for consumer education, to ensure the message on change in lifestyle is passed across.
“The main point is to look into our lifestyle. The way we live we are too lazy to even walk. Even in rural areas, people use boda bodas to go to the market. Let's avoid lifts and use stairs,” she reiterated.
“Let's go back to traditional foods like vegetables, arrow roots, cassava, it will help. Let's avoid refined food or food picked in a hurry from the shops.”
The CS said there is need to take care of the environment by avoiding the burning of rubbish near residential places because the smoke, once it enters the houses, will bring health challenges.
She maintained that Sulphite is not to be used on meat and called on County public health officers to be doing a routine inspection of foods that are being sold.
“To the Kenyans out there, lets mind where we pick our foods, how we buy our foods and how we treat the foods. It is not always that with your naked eyes you can tell that the food has a problem,” she noted.
She said operations to nab those contravening the law will continue to be done jointly with the governors.
