• The edible oils were imported into the country by the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) for its edible oil dispensing machines.
• KNTC said the initiative targeted low-income earners and groups who will sell the cooking oil using the vending machines.
Image: FILE
The Kenya National Bureau of Standards now says the Sh16.5 billion edible oil they had previously declared unfit for human consumption is harmless.
In a statement on Wednesday, the quality assurance agency said the oil met its health and safety parameters save for the vitamin fortification component.
"From the tests done, the edible oil complied with all the health and safety parameters of the applicable by Kenya Standard (KS EAS 769: 2019). However, the sampled edible oils did not meet the Vitamin A levels specified in the Kenyan Standard. This is not a health and safety parameter," Kebs said.
"KEBS communicated the results to KNTC," the agency said.
In a letter dated September 5 and addressed to the KNTC Managing Director, Kebs was categorical that the consignment in question failed to meet quality assurance standards for fortified edible oils and fats.
"The consignments number 23MBAIM402473344, 23MBAIM403321628, and 23MBAIM403235943 have been rejected, and KNTC is hereby advised to reship them back to the country of origin within 30 days from the date of this letter, failure to which they shall be destroyed," the letter read in part.
Kebs indicated that tests found the fat content in the cooking oil exceeded the required amount by 0.47 per cent, registering 99.97 instead of the mandated 99.5.
The moisture and matter volatile at 105°C deviated from the standard of 0.2, measuring a mere 0.03 and that acid value had a potassium hydroxide measurement of 0.12, lower than the required 0.6.
The Kebs report further revealed that the peroxide oxygen content, which should not exceed 10, stood at 5.42.
The edible oils were imported into the country by the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) for its edible oil dispensing machines.
KNTC said the initiative targeted low-income earners and groups who will sell the cooking oil using the vending machines.
The initiative, the corporation said, was in line with the Kenya Kwanza administration’s plan to address the needs of disadvantaged Kenyans at the bottom of the income pyramid, popularly known as hustlers.
On November 28, the DCI picked up and grilled KNTC Managing Director Pamela Mutua and several senior managers to shed light on the oil importation.
On December 1, fresh controversy hit the condemned oil after Senators claimed the consignment went missing from warehouses in Nairobi’s Industrial Area.
The lawmakers made the claims after the Senate Committee on Trade, Industrialisation and Tourism visited the KNTC headquarters on November 30 and inspected one of the warehouses.
The committee members found only 466 twenty-litre jerricans of the oil in the store despite records showing 6,875,000 jerricans of the same capacity were imported amounting to 125,000 metric tonnes.
KNTC, which falls under the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry, got the green light to import the oil in October 2022.
The Cabinet said it was part of the strategy to address the cost of living where the Corporation was made the anchor of state initiatives to create a price stabiliser for essential household food items.
"KNTC will leverage on its infrastructure and capacity to help stabilize price swings of essential items that are abnormal and against the public interest," a Cabinet dispatch said.
It came at a time when the country was grappling with high edible oil prices which Parliament said were artificially hiked.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data indicated a litre of cooking oil had increased to Sh387.98 in June 2022, 51.7 per cent compared to Sh225.83 same month in 2021.
A spot check by the Star at that time noted some brands were retailing at as much as Sh411 per litre.