The Kenya Bureau of Standards has sounded an alarm to traders involved in the sale of repackaged food products without a Standardization Mark Permit.
The Agency said traders risk seizure of their stock and prosecution.
“We have noted with concern that various trading outlets, especially supermarkets, are illegally repackaging food products such as sugar, rice and cooking fat without meeting the requirements of product certification that would assure quality and safety of the products. This is in contravention of the Standards Act, Cap 496, Laws of Kenya that requires persons involved in repackaging of products to acquire the KEBS Standardization Mark permit,” KEBS Managing Director Bernard Njiraini says.
Lt Col (Rtd.) Njiraini further said all repackaged products are also required to comply with the labelling specifications of the respective Kenya Standards.
Information that must be incorporated on food product labels includes; the name of the product, list of ingredients, net content, name, and address of the manufacturer, country of origin, date marking, and instructions for use and storage conditions.
“It should be noted that any person who contravenes any of the provisions of subsections of the Standards Act, Cap 496, of the Laws of Kenya mentioned above or fails to comply with any conditions in a permit, shall be guilty of an offence,” KEBS warned in a statement on Wednesday.
Njiraini also urged members of the public to be on the lookout for substandard products.
“We encourage the general public to “Wajibika Na Kebs” and be on the lookout for products suspected to be substandard and officers suspected to lack integrity,” he added.
“Wajibika Na KeBS” program allows consumers to report t cases about substandard products and a hindrance to service provision by any Kebs official.
To Wajibika, verify whether the S Mark permit on your product is valid by sending the code underneath the S Mark to 20023 (SM#Code) to get product validity status details.
To verify whether the KEBS official you are dealing with actually works for the organization send an SMS to 20023 (HR#Staff Number) to get employment details.
