Police in Embakasi have arrested two suspects for repackaging expired food and selling it to unsuspecting consumers in Nairobi.
According to Embakasi OCPD James Makau, the two were nabbed after a combined team of Nairobi County Government Health officials, Embakasi Police and DCI detectives on Thursday afternoon raided a go-down in Embakasi following a tip-off from the public.
“We managed to enter and search a go down at the tunnel area, on entering we found assorted foodstuffs as well as motocycle parts which we believe are not customed and other assorted goods which after careful scrutiny we found that most of the foodstuffs are expired,” said the police boss
Nairobi County Health Committee Chairman Maurice Ochieng said the products are unfit for consumption and lack quality standards which may jeopardize consumers’ health.
“We got a tip that in Embakasi there is a godown where one of the business persons is involved in doing away with the expiry and he is putting his own labelling… we are putting business owners into notice if we find them with a product which is not registered or doesn’t have the right shelf life we will catch up with you,” said Ochieng.
“What is happening within Nairobi, we have an outbreak of cholera and we are urging the Nairobians to be very keen when they go to eateries.”
According to the county health chairman, the perpetrators use chemicals to do away with the shelf life of the product and then imprint their revised expiry dates, later offloading the goods to unsuspecting consumers.
“We are urging Nairobians to be very careful and also we are worried of the safety of Nairobians…as chair I’m urging the governor to do a reinforcement and to curb all the people who are selling generic products to wananchi,” said Ochieng.
On inspection, the business did not have the required documents for operation. The Embakasi OCPD said the owner of the godown is being pursued alongside three other suspects who managed to escape.
