City hotel opens war on non-organic foodstuffs

A city hotel has vowed to subject all supplies to stringent checks to ensure that only organic food gets to the table in a war against cancer-causing chemicals.

It says all dairy, horticulture, meat and juices will be subjected to screening to ensure that they contain no traces of chemicals.

The Sh450 million Four Star Emory Hotel based in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa area is a subsidiary of the Nairobi Institute of Business Studies.

Chief executive Lizzie Wanyoike said the facility has established an in-house expert to ensure that the ban of non-organic food is fully complied with.

She said the hotel has recruited a paediatric nephrologist and public health specialist to oversee the tests that will only admit organic supplies as well as “those that comply with World Health Organisation (WHO) specified safe chemicals.”

Ms Wanyoike said the risk of cancer in the country is real and a huge percentage of the scourge is from lifestyles that include poor diets.

“As a result, we are losing over 100 Kenyans to cancer daily.

That is more than 40,000 cancer victims every year. All of us in the fields that are fertile ground for the scourge should do something to tame the menace,” she said.

Wanyoike said there are real worries that the agribusiness sector has adulterated most of its products and where there exists, little or no testing about the adverse health effects of many of the chemicals that are added to processed foods, the cancer threat gains ground.

She said the hotel will also liaise with the City Public Health department to make sure its menu conforms to food safety standards.

The CEO said the guidelines in its menu is to keep off uncertified products such as hydrogenated transfats, mono sodium glutamate, chemical preservatives artificial sweeteners and food colourings.

Ms Wanyoike also announced the sacking of the hotel’s general manager as well as its marketing executive for alleged failure to conform to set safety rules.

“As a business entity that seeks goodwill of the global clientele, the continued services of the two office holders at Emory were not tenable. We have relieved them of their duties and merged their functions with the service delivery conformity unit that includes food and supplies testing department,” she told the Sunday Nation.