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{
    "id": 1278494,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1278494/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 213,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kilifi North, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Bill, which has come at the right time. What we consume in this country and what animals consume as feeds, which later translate to human food, is questionable. The food and feed field is in trouble. One, we have a problem of preservatives. Meat in supermarkets looks very fresh all the time but has probably stayed there for four to five days. When you ask how the meat has been preserved to that level of freshness, the attendants tell you that they use certain types of preservatives. Those preservatives are poison to human beings because they eventually cause diseases. When we establish an office that controls food and feed, then we are assured of the safety of Kenyans. Food and feed safety means a safe country. The safety of this country is not about the army, police or all other security organs. The safety of our country can be determined by the kind of food and feed that is supplied. It is very important that we establish this office and have people in office immediately, but my caution is this: We have the Kenya Bureau of Standards that regulates standards of goods in this country, including food and water, yet we have always had issues of food not being properly standardised in the country. There is the question of integrity when we set up this office. We can set up a good office with good objectives and very nice proposals, but if the persons occupying that office are people with questionable integrity, then we are doing zero work. So, when we put people in this office to oversee food and feed safety in this country, integrity should be the overriding principle in ensuring that the food in this country is safe. Another important factor that must be considered is that as a tourism destination, this country requires the establishment of this office within the shortest time possible. Many high- end tourists look at the food safety in Kenya before visiting. I once went to a hotel in Malindi and realised that a billionaire who had come to that hotel had come with a whole plane-load of food because he did not trust the food in this country. I asked why all the food that was being prepared in that hotel was imported food. The workers there told me that even tomatoes, onions and everything else had been imported. This billionaire had come in a jet and landed at Malindi Airport with everything that he needed to be cooked. The billionaire then told me that he does not trust the food in this country. When I asked him why, he pointed out that there are a lot of integrity issues in this country, so the food that is sneaked in or what we buy from the market may not be very safe. I will name the billionaire later to my friend, Hon. John Kiarie, who seems surprised. Many foreigners are worried about food in this country. As a result, the tourism sector is losing high-end tourists because they are not very sure about the food and feed safety. For example, tourists will not buy milk from this country because they think that animals in this country are fed with feed that is not of good quality and has been compromised. Therefore, they import milk. They also cannot buy cooking fat from this country. If you are hotelier who deals with international tourists, you are forced to import even cooking fat and milk because the clientele demand to have safe food. For us to boost the tourism sector in this country, we must have food and feed control that can help this country in terms of tourism. I would also like to talk about Kenya being a dumping site of foods and feeds of low quality. The processes of importing food and feeds in this country has been compromised. My children like a certain type of food called noodles. When you go to the market to buy a packet of noodles, you look at the process they go through and wonder if they are safe for children. At that point, you conclude that you would not allow your children to eat the noodles because you do not know how it will affect them in future. Young children now suffer from cancer. If you visit the cancer ward at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), you will realise that there The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}