Nakuru traders selling 'poisoned' milk arraigned in court

The Kenya Dairy Board on Wednesday netted over 1,500 litres of adulterated milk, much of it laced with hydrogen peroxide and water, in outlets registered in Nakuru town.

More than 15 people from Bondeni, Bahati, Ngata, Town area, Dundori and Mang’u were arrested in the impromptu raids on milk kiosks, hawkers and transporters for running diary businesses without valid licenses.

The traders were arraigned in court and charged with operating milk shops without medical permits, transporting, and handling milk in unhygienic conditions which contravenes the requirements of the Kenya Dairy Board Act.

Most of the arrested traders pleaded guilty and were released on fines ranging between Sh2,000 and Sh43,000 each.

However, Mr Allan Shompole whose 300 litres of milk tested positive for hydrogen peroxide, denied the charges and was released on a Sh100,000 cash bail pending a report by the regulatory agency on the laboratory results. His case will be heard on April 27.

The milk board’s public relations and marketing officer, Mr Stephen Murimi, said the raid was conducted following complaints from the public over the unscrupulous traders.

“Much of the milk is laced with hydrogen peroxide and water,” he revealed pointing at gallons of milk presented in court as exhibit, adding, “We have been carrying out surveillance in other parts of the country to ensure that milk consumed is of good quality starting from milking to consumption.”

Mr Murimi said the milk regulatory body had invested in modern mobile laboratory equipment to help test milk quality and safety at any time and place.

TOXIC CHEMICAL

Underhanded traders add hydrogen peroxide to milk to lengthen its shelf life and to make it whiter.

According the U.S. National Library of Medicine, hydrogen peroxide is used as a ripening agent, bleach and topical anti-infective.

Additionally, it is found in many household at low concentrations for medical applications and as a clothes and hair bleach. 

In industry, it is used as a bleach for textiles and paper, and producing foam rubber and organic chemicals.

Mr Paul Ndung’u, the milk regulatory agency’s chief dairy development officer, said the traders were out to cash in at the expense of the consumers’ health.

“Most of the emerging cancers cases are partly to blame on what we consume. Imagine of a baby being fed with milk laced with hydrogen peroxide,” said Mr Ndung’u.

In January this year, scientists sounded the alarm over the safety of a number of foods sold in the country’s capital, including bananas, apples, poultry, sukuma wiki and milk. They said the foods could be laced with toxic chemicals.

The chemicals are either mixed with feeds for poultry, added to dairy products, used for deep frying, hasten ripening of fruits or as preservatives.

Tests on samples of foods in markets and supermarkets showed dangerous levels of toxins like calcium carbide, hydrogen peroxide, polychlorinated biphenyl-laden transformer oil, formalin and lead.

Public health experts and medical practitioners in January, told the Nation that the chemicals were responsible for a litany of ailments and complications.

In Nairobi, non-packet milk sample tests by Kenyatta University nutrition students revealed higher-than-recommended amounts of hydrogen peroxide — used as a preservative — and formalin, also used to preserve bodies in mortuaries.

Dr James Kinyua said ingestion of small amounts of hydrogen peroxide would have no toxicological effects due to rapid decomposition of the chemical in intestines.

“But ingestion of higher concentrations — more than six per cent — can result in burns,” he added.

These revelations raise public health concerns, especially in the wake of a steep rise in the number of cancer cases.