The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has issued a temporary suspension on 10 most common household cooking oils following a quality check.
Ths suspended cooking oil brands include Fresh Fri with Garlic Oil, Fry mate, Bahari Fry, Fresh Fri, Gold and Pure Olive Gold, Postman, Rina, Salit, Tilly and Top Fry.
In the letter by the Quality Assurance corporation directed to the Retail Traders Association of Kenya (RETRAK), they say that their actions are temporal to help consumers be protected from potentially dangerous products and to safeguard producers’ economic interests.
KEBS has also requested RETRAK to ensure that all cooking oil products are taken off shelves in all countrywide selling outlets to ensure compliance is achieved.
“Kindly note that this is not a ban on the brands but a temporary suspension to allow the manufacturers of the non-compliant brands to initiate and put in place effective corrective action under KEGS supervision to ensure that the non-compliant brands comply with the requirements of the respective Kenya Standards and Standards Act Cap 496, Laws of Kenya before being allowed back into the market,” read the letter in part.
The company further noted that the withdrawn products will be subjected to verification before being restocked on shelves.
In an immediate response to the news, the Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK)has requested all consumers to avoid using the temporarily banned items from here on out until the ban is lifted.
KEBS has also issued directives through which Kenyans can certify that in-use cooking oils had been approved for body consumption.
“One should send the code (numbers) underneath the Standardization Mark logo to 20023 (i.e. type message SM# Code or ISM#code, for local and imported products respectively, and SMS to 20023) to get product manufacturing details and permit validity status.” they clarified
“If the details are different, invalid or not traceable to the platform, retailers should not purchase, stock or offer for sale the products but instead report to KEBS through toll-free number 1545 during official working hours 8 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 5 pm from Monday to Friday,” read the statement in part.
