Cholera time bomb waiting to explode

• Home-made food no longer popular as Nairobi residents opt for cheaper food

To speed up the cooking of dry cereals and save on fuel, some outlets have been accused of rusing sodium carbonate, magadi, which in not good for the health.

The informal food sector, which started as a service for construction workers in the 1990s, has now blossomed into a big industry, giving a full new meaning to outside catering.

Fuelled by demand created by poverty, the issue of human health is rarely factored in, with the take-aways attracting all from the Jua kali sector to white collar workers.

Mama Jonte, who says her services are in great demand as she serves over 500 portions per day, scoffed at a possible ban.

“It would not work. The caterers would simply go underground and our hungry customers would follow us.”

The city council is aware of the problem of roadside food sales in Nairobi as its askaris collect Sh25 per day or bi-weekly depending on the market location.

While proprietors may not be required to have running water and toilet facilities because these are mainly take-away places, they are expected to have a food handling health certificate and appropriate dressing including aprons, but this is hardly the case.

They are also supposed to have a portable water source, which is rarely evident.

While several of the businesses claim to observe high hygienic standards, this has often been found to be untrue.

A study presented at the annual Kenya Agricultural Research Institute scientific conference last year concluded that roadside food outlets in Nairobi are a health threat.

Carried out in Kangemi and Korogocho estates in Nairobi by Dr M Oyunga-Ogubi, it said that almost half of the residents in these areas lived on street food despite the fact that they had “...been prepared in poor hygienic conditions and could be of little nutritional value.”

“A whole one-fifth of the population in the two estates was found to be consuming street food on a daily basis and most of the rest for about five days in a week,” says Dr Oyunga-Ogubi.

Consequently any blanket ban on such foods for whatever reason could lead to serious social disruptions.

Similar study

An earlier, but similar study carried out in Dandora and Korogocho estates in 2001 demonstrates how poverty has changed feeding habits in Nairobi in less than a decade.