NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 2 – One of the suppliers of the contaminated Unimix that was distributed to schools in parts of Eastern, North Eastern and Coast regions has said it was yet to receive the tainted food from the Kenya Red Cross for incineration.
A statement from Proctor & Allan on Wednesday stated that the company had undertaken to manufacture fresh Unimix to replace the tainted one.
“We undertook to manufacture fresh Unimix to replace the recalled three batches in view of the fact that Kenyan maize in general has been affected by aflatoxin as already widely reported,” It said.
The statement from the Managing Director Judy Macharia said Proctor & Allan manufactured the product and the Kenya Red Cross collected the consignment.
The MD said that they were informed of the contamination one month after the consignment had been collected by the Kenya Red Cross.
“Proctor & Allan embarked on immediate investigations into the matter and the indications were that it was isolated to three batches 236.011.1, 236.011.2 and 237.011.1,” she said.
She said the company was currently undertaking a forensic audit to establish at what point the product was contaminated.
Meanwhile, Sai Millers, who were the second supplier of the Unimix through the Kenyans4Kenya initiative said it had outsourced some of the product.
A Manager Bina Patel said they lacked capacity to produce the required 302 tonnes of Unimix and so they outsourced 180 metric tonnes from two other companies.
She however said she did not wish to name the two companies since Sai Millers was willing to take all the responsibility.
“We cannot tell at what point the contamination occurred but this is still under investigation,” she said.
She added that this was the first time Sai Millers was engaged directly with the Kenya Red Cross.
An audit report from Deloitte indicates that Proctor and Allan was paid Sh84.69 million to supply 798metric tonnes of Unimix while Sai Millers got Sh27.18 million to supply 302 metric tonnes of the same product.
At least 362 metric tonnes of the Unimix was recalled by the Kenya Red Cross due to contamination.
Public Health Minister Beth Mugo had been expected to give a ministerial statement on the issue in Parliament on Thursday.
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