By Jennifer Rigby
LONDON (Reuters) -Almost all of the packaged food and drink sold in Kenya by local and international companies would require a health warning label under newly drafted government rules, according to an independent report shared with Reuters.
Kenya released its nutrient profile model this month, and committed to using it to develop front-of-package labels.
The report by the non-profit Access to Nutrition Initiative found that under those rules, 90% of products sold by both international companies like Coca-Cola and Nestle and local firms such as Brookside Dairy Ltd and Manji Foods Industries contained either too much salt, sugar or saturated fat.
Around two-thirds of the products would also be deemed “unhealthy” based on models used internationally like Nutri-Score, which – unlike the Kenyan model – also take into account positive nutrients.
Neither the Kenyan government nor the companies responded to requests for comment.
ATNI has previously tracked products globally and in countries like the U.S. and India, but the Kenya report, alongside one from Tanzania, is the first of its kind in an African country.
The non-profit found last year that products sold by the world’s biggest food and drink companies in poorer countries were on average less healthy than those sold in richer countries.
ATNI said it was important to broaden its work, alongside governments and companies, into African countries as food consumption patterns there change and obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases increase.
In Kenya, sales of processed packaged food grew by 16% in the five years to 2023, and adult obesity rates have tripled since 2000, with 45% of women and 19% of men now overweight or obese, the report said.
TIPPING POINT
“Kenya is at this tipping point where they could follow in the paths of countries like the U.S., where we are seeing really high levels of obesity and overweight, or they could act now to try to prevent that,” ATNI’s Head of Policy Katherine Pittore said.
She said that the nutrient model and the Kenyan government’s commitment to using it to put in place a warning label, one of the first African governments to take such steps, were signs that they are taking action.
ATNI said it was also concerning that more than two-thirds of fortified products such as sweet biscuits or yoghurts, which contain added vitamins and minerals to help people maintain balanced diets, were unhealthy based on the models.
“You could end up addressing micronutrient deficiencies through some of these products, but also contributing, arguably, towards non-communicable diseases at the same time,” said ATNI Executive Director Greg Garrett.
The report was based on 746 packaged products sold by the 30 largest food and beverage companies in Kenya, around 57% of the formal packaged market.
(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Additional reporting by Aaron Ross in Nairobi, Richa Naidu in London; Editing by Jan Harvey)
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