The Nakuru county public health department has raised the alarm over the rising number of substandard goods in supermarkets. Chief officer Samuel King’ori yesterday said 50 per cent of the wheat, salt, flour and oil sampled did not meet standards. “Most of the manufacturers are producing substandard products and lying to innocent consumers,” he said in his office. “What they normally indicate on the packets as ingredients is not usually what is there.”

The samples were drawn from supermarkets in 11 subcounties and tests were done in December. Some salt manufacturers state their products contain 50 mg of iodine but tests show there is no iodine, King’ori said. “Fake food products pose a real threat to health and safety. People could die all because of the greed of criminals,” he said.