This archive report was first published on 20 July 2019.
On July 20, 2019, a shocking exposé revealed that some Nairobi supermarkets were selling contaminated meat to unsuspecting customers.
According to certificates of analysis and examination, Naivas supermarket was one of the outlets implicated in the scandal. Two of the six contaminated samples were collected from two of the supermarket's outlets, including Gateway Mall in Syokimau.
The investigation, which was conducted by the Health ministry, analyzed 40 samples of meat from random establishments. The results showed that some outlets had been selling meat laced with a preservative that should not be detected in meat.
The minced meat samples, for instance, were found to have sodium metabisulfite, a whitish, powdery compound commonly known as dawa ya nyama (the meat drug). The levels of the chemical were 31 times higher than what is accepted by law.
“I am of the opinion that the sample (minced meat) contains sodium metabisulfite and does not comply with the Act,” said Mr Joram Chelashaw, the public analyst who certified the samples.
Naivas Supermarket suspended the sale of red meat across its stores countrywide hours after Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua ordered the closure of its butchery sections in the county.
City health officials said the tests done at the national laboratories prompted the closure of the meat shops, among them Muthaiga Fine Meats Ltd, Tuskys Buruburu, Naivas Mavoko and Tuskys Kenyatta Avenue.
