Unsuspecting maize meal consumers could be exposed to high-levels of aflatoxin in maize imports trickling in from Uganda, the United Grain Millers Association has warned.

Aflatoxin, a poison produced by fungi in cereal crops including maize, peanuts, cottonseed and tree nuts could cause fatal poisoning and an increased risk of cancer.

United Grain Millers Association Chairman Kennedy Nyaga says that the millers have flagged hundreds of bags of maize consignment from Busia border entry point, with aflatoxins above recommended levels, impugning their business.

“We have had to turn away Ugandan maize on account of being contaminated with aflatoxins. Nevertheless, locally sourced stock is well dried, but we are worried that after we reject this Ugandan stock, it will still end up in the local market,” Nyagah revealed.

The association has maintained that its members will not be milling the Ugandan maize, even as the supply, for the first time, outstrips demand on good weather and bumper harvest in the current season, but cautions this might shift.

“Our aflatoxin testing machines have picked worrying trends in the Uganda cereals to a tune of over 200 parts per billion, as opposed to the recommended ten to twenty parts per billion in the Comesa region,” he adds, pointing to laxity by regulators to scrutinise imports.

This even as in February this year, the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) received two high-end decontamination plants valued at Ksh.190 million to help clear aflatoxins in maize. One of the plants is stationed in Bungoma, a few kilometers from the Busia entry point, with another in the capital, Nairobi.

The two plants that clear aflatoxins to a tune of over 98 percent are part of a Ksh.350 million Canadian government donation through the TradeMark Africa (TMA) for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, in a bid to boost safety of cereals in the region.

“Western Kenya was deemed a strategic location to set them up, as it has significant inflows from neighboring Uganda and Tanzania. Over 600,000 metric tons of maize is traded annually from Uganda to Kenya, and about 400,000 metric tons from Tanzania to Kenya,” TradeMark Africa says.

However, millers are perplexed that while it is a requirement that imported cereals should be assessed either at the Bungoma or Nairobi NCPB depots, laxity may have occurred ending up at their hands unchecked.

“We are working with KEBS at the border to clear this mess, and it is suspicious since it is so cheap to buy maize from Uganda and bring it here, so that points to something sinister and there is need to check on that,” Nyagah notes.

Kenya is one of the region’s countries that have set a maximum limit of 10 parts-per-billion for total aflatoxins in maize and maize products which are similar to limits established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the East African Community.