KEBS denies reports of contaminated sugar

A section of the Kenya Bureau of Standards offices in Nairobi. [Denis Kibuchi, Standard]

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has dismissed claims that a consignment of contaminated sugar passed through customs and is currently in circulation in the market.

In a statement released dated Thursday, July 31, KEBS assured the public that no unfit sugar was cleared, adding that no such product is being sold to Kenyans. 

The bureau noted that all sugar, whether locally produced or imported, undergoes mandatory and rigorous inspection, testing, and certification before it reaches consumers.

“Our attention is drawn to statements circulating in the public domain alleging that contaminated sugar is circulating in the Kenyan market. KEBS would like to dispel these allegations,” the agency stated.

The bureau further denied the allegation by the United Opposition that 25,000 metric tonnes of contaminated sugar were cleared from the port of Mombasa for repackaging. 

“We are aware of a cargo of 25,000MT of sugar that recently landed in the Port of Mombasa. These 25,000MT of sugar are already on their way to a western Kenya sugar factory to be repackaged and sold to unsuspecting Kenyans," Karua said on Friday in Nairobi. 

The allegations mirror a similar scandal that rocked the country when then Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi, in 2023, denied that contaminated sugar laced with mercury had reached the market.