Poisonous Maize Flour Remains On Shelves As Carrefour Jumps Onto PR Stunts

Carrefour hypermarket is loved for its spacious shopping aisles and occasional promotions but their recent promotion of selling the now banned aflatoxin laden Dola Maize flour has left Kenyans utterly disturbed.

Ugali is a staple food in a majority of Kenyan households and the news that five known brands were banned on Saturday, 9^th November 2019, was scary knowing just how many packets of the poisonous floor we had been exposed to.

The news released by Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) was soon to get interesting as it has now come to the limelight that the release of the banned maize flour was a reaction of an impending expose by local media house, NTV.

KEBS has failed in its mandate to ensure food safety to Kenyans who now rely on investigative journalism to blow the whistle which makes the authority unreliable and non-performing.

It is only after word hit the streets that the investigative piece produced by NTV’s Dennis Okari was to be aired on Sunday that KEBS, in a panic-mode, rushed to release a list of maize flour brands that it said it had banned immediately.

NTV’s lab results contradicted those of KEBS leaving the question, which flour is safe for consumption on the Kenyan market?

List of Maize Flour Banned by KEBS on 9^th November 2019 for Containing Extreme Levels of aflatoxin:

• Dola
• Kifaru
• Starehe
• 210 Maize
• Jembe

List of Maize Flour Found to Contain Extreme Levels of Aflatoxin by Government Lab as Released by NTV:

• Heri 16.19
• Jimbi 16.8
• Jogoo 13.87
• Dola 1.93
• Familia1.68
• Hostess 1.38

The maize flour banned by KEBS is no longer in supermarket shelves as the authority ordered so but those found to be containing unsafe aflatoxin levels in NTV’s expose remain on shelves for sale.

What if KEBS rush to ban a number of maize flour brands was simply a PR stunt to hide its inability to perform and the real lab results are those aired by NTV? Well, the reality of

Majid Al Futtaim’s Carrefour Sold Poisonous Flour at Half-Price Ahead of Official Ban by KEBS

Majid Al Futtaim’s Carrefour hypermarket put up Dola Maize flour on sale for half the original price days before KEBS announced the flour banned and the same flour appeared on NTV’s expose for containing extreme levels of aflatoxin.

Carrefour is famous amongst Kenyans for its occasional promotions and with the current long December holidays, a majority of Kenyans are jumping on to offers to survive the economy yet still have a good time with their families.

“The permits have been suspended and the manufacturers instructed to discontinue manufacturing or offering for sale the affected maize meal products,” the authority said in a statement.

Carrefour had been selling a 2-kilogram flour packet of the Dola maize flour for a mere 70 shillings from the previous 139 shillings before the ban hit the streets.

The outrageous discount of the banned poisonous Dola maize flour by Carrefour hypermarket was to soon be followed by a launch of MYCLUB program on Monday, November 11, 2019, morning, another PR stunt.

Could Carrefour have had prior knowledge of the carcinogenic nature of Dola maize flour hence the urgent need to dispose of the flour to Kenyans, if yes, is there no law that protects the consumer and if no, why then the ridiculous discount?

Could it be that Dola Maize Manufacturers knew the product was unfit for human consumption and chose to release it to Carrefour, which is known to be the largest retailer in Kenya, in a bid to minimize losses?

Did KEBS really take the maize flour banned through the required testing or did the authority simply take advantage of its position and mentioned a number of maize flour brands suspected to have been in the expose?

Carrefour came out to state that it had negotiated a cheaper deal earlier before the expose and was not aware but if they were indeed aware, would they come out and accept?

KEBS, Maize Manufacturers and especially Dola Maize flour have let Kenyans down but Carrefour, Carrefour has broken the hearts of Kenyans, betrayed the trust it had earned since the video of a white woman harassing an African at the shops went viral.

Can Kenyans honestly trust the discounts offered by Carrefour Hypermarket