Maize bought by millers from the National Cereals and Produce Board is fit for human consumption, Kenyans have been assured.
The assurance follows complaints from millers that some packets of the 1.9 million bags being released by NCPB are not safe.
NCPB spokesman Titus Maiyo on Thursday told the Star by phone that the maize had been given a clean bill of health by the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
“We have not received an official complaint from the millers on the safety of maize we are selling them. The maize is, however, discoloured and has turned yellow but it is still fit for human consumption,” Maiyo said.
As of Wednesday, millers had collected 720,000 bags of the cereal from various depots, Maiyo said.
The Strategic Food Reserve Board released the second batch of 1.9 million bags of maize to millers to cushion Kenyans from high prices of unga. A 2kg packet of maize flour is selling at between Sh120 to Sh127.
A miller who did not want to be mentioned for fear of victimisation described the maize situation as an ‘insult added to the injury’.
He claimed that the supply from NCPB was limited and was costly, compounded by poor quality. He said what is coming from Uganda is highly contaminated.
Most of the millers the Star talked to on Thursday said they have to blend what they are getting from the board with white maize.