Food safety key to healthy diets, officials say

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Food safety, affordable nutrition and stronger coordination across the agricultural and livestock sectors are critical to building healthy diets in Kenya, government officials and development partners have said.

Speaking at the Africa Food Show 2026 Conference at the Kenya International Convention Centre (KICC), Nairobi, and the officials said efforts to improve nutrition must address the entire food chain, from production and livestock to processing, marketing and consumption.

The three-day conference, held under the theme, ‘Transforming Agrifood Systems for Healthy Diets: From Seed to Plate’, brought together government officials, agriculture and livestock stakeholders, development partners and the United Nations to examine ways of transforming Kenya’s food systems.

Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau said agriculture could no longer be treated as a stand-alone sector because decisions affecting production, trade and irrigation directly influence nutrition and household food affordability.

“A decision on irrigation is also a decision on nutrition. A decision on tariffs is also a decision on what a mother can afford at the market,” Wanjau said.

She said Kenya faced a double burden of undernutrition and rising obesity, requiring coordinated interventions involving several sectors.

Wanjau cited the Galana-Kulalu Food Security Project, Mama Kitchen Garden Programme and the Kenya Integrated Agricultural Management Information System (KIAMIS) digital registry as some of the initiatives supporting food security under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.

She said food security interventions needed to be properly resourced, coordinated and protected to ensure more Kenyans had access to nutritious and affordable food.

Principal Secretary for Agriculture Dr Kipronoh Ronoh, said Kenya was strengthening food safety governance through the newly enacted Food and Feed Safety Control Coordination Act and the establishment of the Office of the Food and Feed Safety Controller.

He said the reforms were intended to address fragmentation in the country’s food-control system while strengthening consumer protection and facilitating safe trade.

“Unsafe food does not become safe simply by crossing a border,” Ronoh said.

The PS said 7.6 million farmers had been registered through KIAMIS, while 1.37 million farmers were facilitated through e-vouchers during the 2025/26 financial year.

He added that 20.7 million livestock had been vaccinated through the same digital platform, demonstrating the growing use of technology in agricultural and livestock management.

Ronoh, however, warned that land fragmentation and rapid urbanisation were putting pressure on Kenya’s agricultural land, requiring difficult decisions on how the country would use its shrinking farmland to sustain food production.

Principal Secretary for Livestock Development Jonathan Mueke said livestock production was an essential component of efforts to improve nutrition and food safety.

“The journey to a healthy plate does not begin with seed alone. It begins with the hoof, the udder and the coop,” Mueke said.

He said livestock and feed safety should be treated as central components of Kenya’s food systems because contaminated animal feed could introduce hazards into the food chain.

Mueke also called for greater recognition of indigenous knowledge among pastoralist communities, saying modern livestock development should build on generations of experience rather than disregard it.

He said smallholder dairy farmers, women livestock traders and youth innovators were key drivers of transformation and should be treated as active participants in food-system development.

FAO Representative in Kenya Farayi Zimudzi said nutritional advice alone was insufficient to guarantee healthy diets because food must also be safe, affordable and accessible.

Zimudzi cited a recent Kenyan study showing that tomatoes, kale, spinach and onions sampled in Nairobi and Nakuru markets sometimes exceeded recommended pesticide-residue limits.

She warned that the findings could undermine efforts to encourage Kenyans to consume more vegetables if food safety was not addressed alongside nutrition.

“A diet must be safe to be healthy,” Zimudzi said, echoing World Health Organization guidance.

She also cautioned that food processing could have both positive and negative effects, noting that processing can extend shelf life but excessive use of salt, sugar and fats can undermine nutritional value.

Zimudzi linked healthy diets to soil health and micronutrient availability, citing findings from Kenya’s 2011 National Micronutrient Survey, including concerns over zinc deficiency.

She said the Food and Agriculture Organization was partnering with the Government to develop Food Systems-Based Dietary Guidelines aimed at addressing food production and consumption challenges across the entire food system.

The officials agreed that food safety should not be viewed merely as an inspection issue after food has been produced, but as a shared responsibility stretching from farms and livestock production to markets and consumers.

Wanjau called for stronger whole-of-government coordination, while Ronoh urged researchers and financiers to develop practical solutions that farmers could adopt.

Mueke stressed the importance of incorporating livestock into food and nutrition discussions, while Zimudzi urged stakeholders to connect interventions across the food chain.

“Let us connect the dots from seed to plate,” she said.

The conference is expected to continue with technical sessions focusing on ways to strengthen Kenya’s agrifood systems and ensure households can access food that is safe, diverse, nutritious and affordable.

By Michael Omondi

Reporting originally appeared via Kenya News Agency. Read the full source for additional context.