A scanner at the port of Mombasa. There are fears that foodstuffs inspected through scanners can expose consumers to cancer. PHOTO | COURTESY
Is the fish Kenyans are consuming from China safe? This is the question in the minds of many following concerns that tonnes of fish and other frozen foodstuffs being imported into the country are being contaminated with cancer-causing radiation at the port of Mombasa.
Kenyans will be alarmed to learn that even after reports showed that most of the food on sale is filthy and contains poison, it has now emerged that foodstuffs getting into the country pose serious health risks because of being subjected to inspection using radio-active emitting scanners.
This could be scary because of the rising cases of cancer, a disease that is now the third biggest killer in the country and one that has left many households impoverished due to high costs of treatment.
The Nation has accounts from port officials that all containers entering the country, including those bringing tonnes of foodstuffs like fish from China, are inspected using scanners that emit cancer-causing radiation.
CONTAMINATE FOOD
However, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Kenya Radiation Protection Board (KRPB) have dispelled fears of any poisoning maintaining the machines do not emit levels of radiation that can contaminate the food.
“The dose of radiation absorbed by the food is very low. It is perfectly safe to scan any food even multiple times,” said Mr Julius Musyoki, KRA Commissioner, Customs and Border Control.
Mr Edward Mayaka, KRPB Chief Radiation Protection Officer said that although the KRA machines are safe, foodstuffs entering the country are still subjected to radio-analysis to ensure they are free from radiation.
“The board does subject foodstuffs to radio-analysis to ensure that food imports are not contaminated from other sources,” he said.
He added KRPB, as the national competent authority on matters of radiation safety, has given the KRA scanners a clean bill of health.
IMPORTED FOOD
But according to port officials speaking on condition of anonymity, the process of scanning containers at the port is a clear indication that Kenyans should be worried of imported food that has flooded supermarket shelves.
To start with, it is important to understand that a major drought over the past two years saw food production decline significantly.
The situation forced the country to resort to imports not only of cereals like maize, beans and wheat but even of frozen foodstuff like fish, pork, chicken, powdered milk among others.
Central Bank of Kenya data shows that in the first quarter of this year, the food import bill stood at Sh68.63 billion compared to Sh52.75 billion same period last year, a 30 per cent increase.
Fish imports from China, in particular, have increased at an exponential rate and have been a cause for alarm due to the negative effect it is having on the local fish industry. Data show that Kenya’s fish imports, which include tilapia, salmon and mackerel, more than doubled in the first 11 months of 2017 from Sh1 billion to Sh2.2 billion the previous year.
HEALTH RISKS
In June this year, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri said the imports are necessary to meet demand taking into account that Kenya produces 200,000 tonnes annually yet local demand stands at 1 million tonnes.
While the imports are necessary, the process of allowing the foodstuff into the local market and finally on the dinner tables could be exposing Kenyans to health risks.
According to sources at the port, since KRA invested Sh1 billion in the Integrated Scanner Project ostensibly to enhance surveillance, fight illicit and increase tax collection last year, all containers entering the country must be subjected to the machines.
While KRA and KRPB maintain the scanners operate like normal x-ray machines found in hospitals, at the port the scanners and the monitoring computers and human operators are in separate rooms.
In most instances, even in airports where x-ray security scanners are installed, there is often no need for separate rooms between the machines and the operators.
X-RAY SCANNERS
At the port of Mombasa, KRA has even gone ahead to put stickers with signs that the scanners emit radiation.
“KRA has taken all the necessary precautions because the scanners emit radiation when they are switched on. Scanning foodstuff exposes consumers to risks,” said an official of a clearing firm.
According to Mr Musyoki, all foodstuff containers are scanned through a process called non-intrusive inspection using x-ray scanners.
“The scanners use accelerator technology which only generate X-rays when powered by electricity.
When electricity is turned off, the scanner does not emit any radiation,” he explained.
THOROUGH RESEARCH
He added the effects of irradiation of foodstuff has been a subject of thorough research which has been reviewed by joint expert committees of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
“These expert groups have uniformly concluded that the food irradiation process does not present any enhanced toxicological, microbiological or nutritional hazard beyond though brought about by conventional food processing techniques,” he noted.
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