Kebs kicks 14 sanitisers off shelves over quality
Kebs has suspended use of 14 brands of hand sanitisers citing failure to meet safety and quality standards.
The Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) has suspended use of 14 brands of hand sanitisers citing failure to meet safety and quality standards.
Kebs Wednesday said they were picked out from a sample of 47 brands collected from the market and tested for various safety standards but failed to make the cut.
The move comes amid a surge in demand for hand sanitisers across various sectors of the economy in the fight against the spread of the Coronavirus disease.
Kebs has since last year put the products in the categories of constant surveillance and monitoring in the wake of growing demand due to the increasing cases of infections.
“Surveillance activities on hand sanitisers and the below listed hand sanitiser brands with their matching batch numbers were tested and did not comply with the various requirements of the Standards Act and EAS 789: East African Standard Specification for Instant Hand Sanitisers,” Kebs said in a statement Wednesday.
Brands
The standards body named the brands as BlueKing, Jet, Shoka, Kayda Care, Apocan, Mychoice, Safe Touch, Afya, Lab Care, Aroma, Clear Hands, Comely, Sari and Germshild.
It ordered manufactures to furnish it with corrective measures to allow resumption of production and sale of the brands in the market.
In May last year, the standards agency banned eight sanitiser brands, stopping manufacturers of the products whose demand has been growing as individuals and businesses move to guard against spread of the disease.
Kebs has in recent times attracted litigation for banning various products in the fight against sub-standard goods. The agency says that it is facing court cases with an estimated value of over Sh10 billion.
It has in recent times stepped up the fight on fakes and substandard goods and recently rolled out a platform that allows consumers to test whether products meet the safety standards.
The system allows consumers to send product below the S-Mark permit to 2003, enabling them to get manufacturing details. Kebs says consumers should report if the details are invalid or untraceable.
