Rwanda Gov't: Kenyan indomie fit for consumption

Rwanda’s Food and Drugs Agency (RFDA) now says that Kenyan-made chicken flavoured Indomie products are fit for consumption.

This comes after RFDA, through its Quality Control Laboratory, conducted tests on quarantined samples of the noodle brand imported from Nairobi-based manufacturer, Salim Wazaran Limited.

According to RFDA’s Director General Emile Bienvenu, all samples tested did not have any traces of aflatoxin or pesticide residues as earlier feared.

“Based on Rwanda FDA’s Quality Control Laboratory results for tested samples which revealed that Indomie’s chicken flavoured products on Rwandan market manufactured in Kenya by are free from aflatoxin and pesticides residues,” Bienvenu said in a statement on Friday.

“Rwanda FDA assures the general public that Indomie chicken flavor manufactured in Kenya are registered and safe.”

Bienvenu’s statement comes after the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition Commission warned member states that chicken, chilli and vegetable flavoured Indomie products might have high levels of aflatoxins and other poisons based on reports from Egypt’s Food and Safety Authority, which prompted Rwanda to remove the products from its shelves.

The Paul-Kagame-led nation advised importers, distributors and retailers to quarantine the products until proper tests were conducted on the noodle brand by relevant authorities.

On Friday, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) allayed fears pertaining to the brands that had been banned in Egypt and Rwanda underscoring that there was no connection between the products recalled in Egypt and the ones in Kenya.

KEBS has already taken samples of local indomie products and is expected to release findings from their investigations sometime next week.