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Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and Kenya Seed Company MD Sammy Chepsiror Kiplagat inspect a maize variety at the KSC stand during the Nakuru ASK Show on July 4, 2025. [File, Standard]
In recent months, Kenya has been gripped by recurring food safety scares that have reminded citizens of the decades-old systemic gaps in consumer protection. The latest case involved a recall of four peanut butter brands after tests found aflatoxin above the legal limit of 15 parts per billion. One reported sample recorded 934 ppb, over 62 times the allowed level.
Each time such cases occur, the government’s response follows a predictably reactive pattern: Market raids, product bans and public statements aimed at calming public anxiety. However, once the headlines fade, it’s back to business as usual until the next crisis emerges.
The key constraint to addressing this critical issue is that the country’s food safety architecture is too fragmented and siloed to effectively prevent these crises at the source, leaving the public vulnerable to a system that only reacts to tragedies.
Currently, Kenya’s food safety regulation is spread across multiple laws, ministries, departments and regulatory agencies. A single product, such as peanut butter or milk, falls under the overlapping mandates of the Kenya Bureau of Standards, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and others.
This fragmentation creates a “regulatory vacuum” in which accountability is amorphous at best. Without a central body to track safety from “farm to fork,” inefficiencies and paralysis are inevitable. Furthermore, this lack of coordination places a heavy burden on the private sector. Food producers often face duplicate inspections and overlapping fees.
That’s why the delays in reforming the regulatory and policy architecture are concerning. The review of the National Food Safety Policy, meant to replace the 2013 version, has been languishing in draft form since 2021, following stakeholder consultations. Publicly available information indicates that it’s yet to reach the Cabinet or Parliament.
Meanwhile, the Food and Feed Safety Control Co-ordination Bill (2023), which aims to address the systemic food safety problems, finally reached a breakthrough in April 2026. This is nearly three years after it was first introduced to Parliament. A Parliamentary Mediation Committee settled long-standing disputes between the National Assembly and the Senate over the role of counties.
The Bill establishes the Office of the Food Safety Controller and creates the coordination framework that regulators have lacked for decades. However, until it receives final presidential assent and full implementation, the status quo remains.
At the county level, progress remains uneven. Nairobi County has moved ahead with its Food Safety and Fortification Act, but many other counties still lack a clear legal framework. Faster action on national food safety laws and policy would give counties a stronger foundation to develop and align their own legislation.
The consequences of this inertia are concrete. Aflatoxin exposure is linked to rising liver cancer rates and childhood stunting. Across the livestock sector, farmers routinely buy and administer antibiotics without a prescription, feeding a surge in antimicrobial resistance that makes ordinary infections harder to treat in humans.
Economically, the stakes are just as high. Kenyan farmers lose lucrative European and Middle Eastern markets every year due to a lack of robust traceability.
A harmonised food safety system would protect citizens and make Kenyan produce competitive regionally and globally, converting food safety from a chronic liability into a commercial advantage.
Ms Mohamed is a food safety advocate based in Nairobi. [email protected]
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Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and Kenya Seed Company MD Sammy Chepsiror Kiplagat inspect a maize variety at the KSC stand during the Nakuru ASK Show on July 4, 2025.
[File, Standard]
In recent months, Kenya has been gripped by recurring food safety scares that have reminded citizens of the decades-old systemic gaps in consumer protection. The latest case involved a recall of four peanut butter brands after tests found aflatoxin above the legal limit of 15 parts per billion. One reported sample recorded 934 ppb, over 62 times the allowed level.
Each time such cases occur, the government’s response follows a predictably reactive pattern: Market raids, product bans and public statements aimed at calming public anxiety. However, once the headlines fade, it’s back to business as usual until the next crisis emerges.
The key constraint to addressing this critical issue is that the country’s food safety architecture is too fragmented and siloed to effectively prevent these crises at the source, leaving the public vulnerable to a system that only reacts to tragedies.
Currently, Kenya’s food safety regulation is spread across multiple laws, ministries, departments and regulatory agencies. A single product, such as peanut butter or milk, falls under the overlapping mandates of the Kenya Bureau of Standards, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and others.
This fragmentation creates a “regulatory vacuum” in which accountability is amorphous at best. Without a central body to track safety from “farm to fork,” inefficiencies and paralysis are inevitable. Furthermore, this lack of coordination places a heavy burden on the private sector. Food producers often face duplicate inspections and overlapping fees.
That’s why the delays in reforming the regulatory and policy architecture are concerning. The review of the National Food Safety Policy, meant to replace the 2013 version, has been languishing in draft form since 2021, following stakeholder consultations. Publicly available information indicates that it’s yet to reach the Cabinet or Parliament.
Meanwhile, the Food and Feed Safety Control Co-ordination Bill (2023), which aims to address the systemic food safety problems, finally reached a breakthrough in April 2026. This is nearly three years after it was first introduced to Parliament. A Parliamentary Mediation Committee settled long-standing disputes between the National Assembly and the Senate over the role of counties.
The Bill establishes the Office of the Food Safety Controller and creates the coordination framework that regulators have lacked for decades. However, until it receives final presidential assent and full implementation, the status quo remains.
At the county level, progress remains uneven. Nairobi County has moved ahead with its Food Safety and Fortification Act, but many other counties still lack a clear legal framework. Faster action on national food safety laws and policy would give counties a stronger foundation to develop and align their own legislation.
The consequences of this inertia are concrete. Aflatoxin exposure is linked to rising liver cancer rates and childhood stunting. Across the livestock sector, farmers routinely buy and administer antibiotics without a prescription, feeding a surge in antimicrobial resistance that makes ordinary infections harder to treat in humans.
Economically, the stakes are just as high. Kenyan farmers lose lucrative European and Middle Eastern markets every year due to a lack of robust traceability.
A harmonised food safety system would protect citizens and make Kenyan produce competitive regionally and globally, converting food safety from a chronic liability into a commercial advantage.
Ms Mohamed is a food safety advocate based in Nairobi. [email protected]
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By Sadiya Mohamed