Dairy Board to launch revised milk laws; processors step up milk tests to cut antibiotic residues
KENYA - Exactly one year after the controversial draft dairy regulations were rejected by milk producers, the Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) will undertake a fresh public participation across the country to convince producers to support the new rules.
2 March 2020
2 minute read
In March 2019, the Dairy Board was forced to keep the the rules on the backburner - which dairy farmers described as punitive and draconian.
In one of the proposals by the regulator, penalties and fines for various offences were pegged at a maximum of Sh500,000, reports Daily Nation.
However, the KDB is back to the drawing board after a year and reports that the regulator will launch its review of draft dairy regulations on 9 March in Kakamega, Kitale, Garissa and Nyeri.
KDB Managing Director Margaret Kibogy said, "The review of the Draft Dairy Regulations has been finalised. The document is ready for presentation to the public to give their input."
Milk tests being step up
In a completely unrelated incident, Standard Digital reports that milk processors have stepped up efforts to assist dairy farmers produce quality and safe raw milk that complies with regulatory and food safety requirements.
The processors have stepped up efforts to assist dairy farmers produce quality and safe raw milk that complies with regulatory and food safety requirements.
Some of the requirements include physical, chemical and microbiological specifications for raw milk as provided by relevant Kenyan standards. Processors look forward to to continue supplying the market with high quality dairy products.
For instance, presence of antibiotic residues in milk has dropped considerably over the past six years after processors put in place stringent food safety practices along the dairy value chain.
Brookside Dairy, with an installed daily processing capacity of 1.5 million litres of milk, says investment in training on clean milk production by its 160,000 farmers countrywide had borne fruit with a significant lowering in cases of rejections of low quality milk.
To continue reading the article from Standard Digital, please click here.
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