Members of the public within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) have been cautioned against eating some chicken and vegetable flavored instant noodles – commonly referred to as Indomie Noodles.
Kenya is a member of COMESA.
The warning has been issued by the Comesa Competition Commission (CCC) after some of the Indomie Noodles were recalled from the Egyptian market early this week.
This followed tests done by the Food and Safety Authority (FSA) of Egypt which found out that Indomie’s chili, chicken, and vegetable flavor packets contained aflatoxins and pesticide residues in quantities that exceeded safe limits.
About 733,340 cartons of different Indomie Noodles flavors have since been withdrawn from the Egyptian market by the supplier.
FSA, in a statement, however, said apart from the three products, Indomie noodles were found to be generally safe for human consumption.
And with the red flag from Egypt, the Comesa Competition Commission has warned consumers in markets, to watch out for the affected products.
“The Commission through its market observatory has established that some of the recalled Indomie products are imported and marketed in other member states of the common market. The commission would like to therefore alert the general public of the risks in consuming above Indomie instant noodles as established by the FSA and to exercise caution in the consumption of the same,” CCC said in a statement.
Indomie is a brand of instant noodles produced by the Indonesian company Indofood.
Indofood itself is the largest instant noodle producer in the world with 16 factories. Over 15 billion packets of Indomie are produced annually. Indomie is also exported to more than 90 countries around the world.
Salim Wazaran Kenya – a Kenyan-based company that is a subsidiary of the Indonesian giant noodle maker that supplies the product in Kenya has not issued a statement over the latest developments.
Already, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KeBS) has launched a probe to ascertain the safety of all the Indomie Noodles in the Kenyan markets.
“We shall draw samples for testing and if the contaminants are present we shall withdraw the products from the market,” said KeBS managing director Bernard Njiraini.
