A new report has sounded the alarm over Kenya’s packaged food market, revealing that over 90 percent of products sold contain dangerously high levels of sugar, salt, or fat.
The Global Access to Nutrition Index (ATNi), which evaluates the healthiness of food products, reviewed items from more than 25 major food and beverage companies operating in Kenya.
Researchers analyzed a wide range of common items consumed that dominate local shelves. These included drinks like sodas, juices, and energy drinks, and staples such as rice, pasta, and noodles.
The study also analyzed snack foods like biscuits and sweets, dairy and ice cream, cooking essentials like edible oils and sauces, and breakfast items like cereals and instant coffee.
Assessment was on the basis of Kenya’s own system of nutrient profiling, which sets specific limits for total fat, saturated fat, sugars, and sodium in 21 categories of processed food.
The findings revealed a shocking trend: Beloved brands fell short of national benchmarks. Many baked goods, for instance, carried elevated amounts of sugar, salt, and saturated fat.
Foods in product categories like savory snacks, sweet biscuits, snack bars, and fruit snacks also didn’t hit health benchmarks. Even some of the most commonly accepted staples such as rice, pasta, and noodles had nutrient levels above safe limits.
Worse still, the report showed that most food companies have made minimal progress in reformulating their products. Only a handful of brands have taken steps to reduce harmful ingredients such as sodium, added sugars, saturated fats, and industrial trans fats. Few have also incorporated more healthier aspects like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, or nuts..
The report warns that these findings carry serious public health consequences for Kenya, where non-communicable diseases (NCDs) linked to poor diets such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease are rapidly rising.
The researchers attributed the widespread levels of excessive sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats in packaged foods consumed daily to mounting diet-linked disease burden in the country.
As a resolution to the issue, the report calls for all food and drink companies whose products have high sugar, salt, or fat content to:
- Set and publicly declare obvious, measurable, and timely targets for reducing such unhealthy nutrients across their product ranges.
- Avoid making health or nutrition claims on products that do not pass official “healthier” product criteria.
- Support and encourage education campaigns encouraging healthy eating awareness, especially through the suggested front-of-pack labeling scheme.
Additionally, the report urges companies to adopt responsible marketing practices, particularly those targeting children. It calls on firms to stop using ads, celebrity endorsements, sponsorships, toys, giveaways, and promotional materials to push less nutritious products to anyone under 18.
