Kenya: Govt. agency recalls Jetlak Food's Nuteez peanut butter after it tests positive for cancer-linked aflatoxin; company comments
"Nuteez tests positive for cancer-linked aflatoxin"
The Nuteez peanut butter brand has been recalled from supermarket shelves for contamination with cancer-causing aflatoxin. Director of Public Health Kepha Ombacho on Thursday said that the department had withdrawn from the market batches of peanut butter that had exceeded by more than double the set aflatoxin standard. “We issued the circular to have the batches withdrawn from the market and be subjected to random tests. Going forward, we will prefer legal charges against them. Yes, that option is open,” said Mr Ombacho in an interview. “All other batches of the same product (should be) sampled and submitted to the laboratory for analysis to ensure safety,” he added in a statement released later in the day.
Jetlak Foods Limited, the Ruiru-based manufacturer of Nuteez, confirmed that their products were detained but added they had no access to them despite the fact that they had not received any formal communication from the relevant ministries. “We do not have access to our products and we think this is unfair because we cannot even test it ourselves to confirm it is indeed true,” said the Jetlak managing director Anup Bid.
Government Chemist official John Kibuthi said tests had confirmed Nuteez had aflatoxin contamination of up to 24.08 parts per billion against the East African Community standard of 10 parts per billion.