The standoff between the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) and cooking oil manufacturers over the safety of some of their products needs to be resolved quickly, to reassure consumers that what they are buying from shop shelves is fit for human consumption.
Sadly, it is just another case of consumer safety concerns being raised about products that are used in nearly every home.
In the recent past, we have seen a number of other products such as maize flour, paint, sugar and cosmetics being recalled or flagged by the Kebs for not meeting quality and safety standards, pointing in some cases to a lack of duty of care by the importers or manufacturers.
The standards body needs to offer more details on the testing processes and perhaps demonstrate to the public how the sampling and actual checks are done to debunk the damaging allegations being floated by the manufacturers.
The same applies to the companies that are saying that their independent tests have given their products a clean bill of health. The firms have a right to defend their product but must also appreciate Kebs' mandate to perform quality checks.
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