When the sugar scandal erupted the State admitted that 10,000 bags of contaminated sugar was sneaked from Mombasa Port and released into the market.
A court has heard that sugar sneaked into the country in August 2018 was fit for human consumption.
The Egyptian sugar had been branded unhealthy with high levels of moisture and was also said to be laced with “insoluble matter” and aflatoxin that render the products unfit for human consumption.
However, the court heard that contrary to what was earlier reported, analysis by the government laboratory indicated that the consignment was not contaminated.
“Results from the Government Chemist which I saw after taking the samples for testing confirmed that the sugar was okay for human consumption,”Kilindini Port Health Officer Florence Kamula told Mombasa Resident Magistrate Christine Ogweno.
Kebs former managing director Charles Ongwae and 10 other officials are facing charges of attempted murder over importation of sugar alleged to have had traces of mercury.
The court granted their wish to have the samples tested again. On Tuesday, Ms Kamula said her duties included ship clearance, water and food quality control, disease surveillance and general sanitation of the port.
She said that after receiving instructions from her boss, she picked samples of the consignment which was being held at Boss Freight container station for laboratory analysis at the Port Health Office, the same were later taken for tests at the Government Chemist.
“The consignment was containerised and I did withdraw 50kg bags of brown sugar from four containers, I did fill in sampling notification and receipt in accordance with food, drugs and chemical substance, stamped and counter signed the document in the presence of clearing agents, I then handed it over to the in-charge of Port Health Peter Mwadziwe for his further action,” she said.
She said that even after the analysis report showed the consignment met the regulator’s specifications, she did not see a release notice issued by the multi-agency team.