Cholera time bomb waiting to explode

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

The study, carried out by the universities of Nairobi and Wageningen of the Netherlands and published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, concluded that street foods in Nairobi were only taken for breakfast or as snacks while dinner was usually home-made.

In such a case, if a health-related ban was initiated residents could tolerably survive.

Another popular food item in the city is the omena or dagaa fish that find its way into Nairobi from the lake region.

Last year, researchers from Kenyatta University, the Department of Fisheries and the Kenya Medical Research Institute in a study published in the East African Medical Journal found Omena to be highly contaminated with some organisms that can cause serious food poisoning such as E.coli and Salmonella.

Not new

They said contamination could occur during storage, transportation and sale at open-air markets.

Such findings are not new to Kenyan health authorities. In July, a report by the ministry of Health said 50 per cent of preventable diseases in Kenya are the result of poor hygiene mainly because of appalling lapses in the country’s environmental sanitation system.

Currently, the Nairobi City Council has about 200 health officers with the daunting task of protecting more than three million residents — and visitors — by inspecting more than 1,500 licensed eating places and several other hundred illegal ones.

Ministry of Health officials say that regulation of unhygienic and illegal food outlets does not form a major part of their job description.

Get rid

According to the deputy Chief Public Health Officer, Mr John Kariuki, the ministry only sets policies related to health and sanitation in legally licensed public establishments.

It is the city council’s job to get rid of illegal structures and businesses.

But Mr Kariuki said the public was also fuelling the mushrooming of these illegal eateries.“Rules alone cannot work unless the public is willing to cooperate with law enforcers. If you notice that a place is unhygienic, notify the authorities.

“Noble idea,” asks Jack Mutie, 25, a computer technician staying in Riruta, Satellite, “...but if we report them, then where do we eat?