The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has temporarily suspended at least 10 brands of cooking oil and edible fats because of health-related concerns.

KEBS announced the suspension of the cooking oil brands in a statement released on Friday.

According to KEBS, it reached the decision following a sampling exercise of some cooking oil products and they failed to meet the standard.

"The listed brands of non-compliant edible oils and fats that failed to meet the requirements of the standard: and to request your good office to notify your members to recall these brands and remove them from the supply chain from your members," the statement read in part.

KEBS noted it has not banned the brands but rather suspended them temporarily to facilitate the protection of consumers from potentially unsafe products and safeguard the manufacturer’s economic interests.

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The suspension will also allow manufacturers of the affected brands to ameliorate their products

"Kindly note that this is not a ban on the brands but a temporary suspension to facilitate the protection of consumers from potentially unsafe products, safeguard the economic interests of manufacturers of compliant brands and allow the manufacturers of the non-compliant brands to initiate and put in place effective corrective action under KEBS supervision," the statement further read.


The bureau emphasised the affected cooking oil brands will only be allowed back to the market if they meet the requisite standards, as it advised Kenyans to check the quality of products before making purchases.

To that effect, KEBS outlined how Kenyan consumers can validate the quality of the products and how to report a case where the products are invalid.

"One should send the code (numbers) underneath the Standardization Mark logo to 20023 (i.e. type message SM# Code or ISM#code, for local and imported products respectively, and SMS to 20023) to get product manufacturing details and permit validity status,” KEBS said.

"If the details are different, invalid or not traceable to the platform, retailers should not purchase, stock or offer for sale the products but instead report to KEBS through toll-free number 1545 during official working hours 8 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 5 pm from Monday to Friday.” 

The following is the list of cooking oil brands the KEBS ban has affected"

1. Bahari Fry

2. Fresh Fri

3. Fresh Fri with Garlic Oil,

4. Fry Mate,

5. Gold and Pure Olive Gold

6. Postman

7. Rina

8. Salit

9. Tilly

10. Top Fry