Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1353016,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1353016/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 232,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Veronica Maina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if you will recall on several incidences, there have been questions raised on the quality of food that is being consumed or sold on the shelves. I do not want to quote certain names that have been quoted in mainstream media, questioning the quality of some of the products that are being sold in Kenya. Some of those products have been banned from being sold in other countries. As I rise to support this legislation, my take is, it is important to ensure that there are standards that are set and observed. With the body that is set to check on these standards, Kenyans will be assured that the food or water that is being consumed by humans or even animal feeds fed to the animals is safe for consumption. What is fed to animals eventually ends up in humans because those cattle are for human consumption. So, it becomes important for people to understand what is being fed to the livestock. In the proposal to ensure that there is a guarantee of safety, this legislation must ensure that citizens are engaged in civic education and participate in understanding what is contained in what is being eaten. We know that the safety of that food has a direct correlation to the health of the population, and we know some of the lifestyle diseases have been caused by some of the food that is being consumed. Doctors have been at it. It is just that the doctors are not as loud as the politicians, but they have really tried to explain to the politicians and to many other people who would care to listen on why the quality of the food is going directly to impact the kind of lifestyle diseases that we may be experiencing in Kenya. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as I rise to support the Bill that is before this House, my submission is that this is good legislation. It comes too late in the day, but thank God we finally have it. We can now test the food against the legislation and say that this is the legal standard that helps us to ensure that even as we actualise Article 43 of the Constitution to the citizens in Kenya, we are also ensuring that the safety of that food does not compromise on the dignity of human life. We would also note that even at a farming level, the farmers would need to understand that the Bill must take care of the fact that civic education needs to be done to farmers, so that they understand the inputs that would compromise and affect food safety. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if you look at what is happening in the horticulture field, many counties in Kenya are already engaged in the production of horticultural products. However, when exporting these products, they are subjected to certain standards in in different jurisdictions such that if certain inputs have been utilized in this country, then those products cannot be exported especially if the farm inputs that are used in the process of growing that food have not been approved by the destination countries that are targeted. That is why you will find that a product like avocado, which comes from our farms sometimes gets banned in some of the markets abroad because it has either been mishandled or the way that product has been generated or farmed is not approved because of the inputs, packing or the handling. Therefore, this legislation is going to put standards that will ensure that our food is safe for human consumption and for selling in the international market. It will"
}