More than 50 maize flour dealers have applied to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), for certification, weeks after Kenya raised a red flag over the safety of Ugandan maize and its products.

According to the standards watchdog, the process of certification of the 50 dealers is ongoing, and will soon be complete, while 23 companies are already certified.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, UNBS said the 23 certified companies are already producing 27 brands of certified maize flour and maize grains from across the country.

“We are calling upon all maize flour dealers to adhere to the maize flour quality standards as well as seek certification before placing their products on the market. All products that fall under mandatory standards must be certified by UNBS before being placed on the market,” the statement said.

Early this month, Kenya stopped 150 trucks of maize from entering its market, claiming it contained Mycotoxins, particularly aflatoxins and Fumonisins, which can cause cancer.

Although the ban was later lifted, civil society activists said it was an indictment on the quality of Ugandan products, and called for self-regulation.

In a recent press briefing, Jane Nalunga, the executive director for the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) said Ugandan products have periodically had challenges related to adherence to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures.

“In fact, Uganda’s trade with other partners has been characterised with bans and rejections of our products by other countries. For example, due to poor product standards, Uganda’s fish was banned by the European Union in 2002, and in December 2019, Germany notified Uganda about rejection, detaining and destruction of Sesame exports due to contamination with Salmonella,” she said.

Several studies have also established the vulnerability of Uganda’s maize to Aflatoxins contamination, above the recommended limit of 10 parts per billion (ppb).

In 2014, for instance, a study by the African Union together with the school of food science and technology, nutrition and biosystems engineering at Makerere university established that 20% of the maize samples collected from major maize-growing regions in Uganda had Aflatoxins above the recommended limit.

UNBS publicist, Sylvia Kirabo said the regulator has also issued guidelines for Maize flour millers to adhere to, in order to minimize contamination of their product and ensure safe maize flour distribution on the market.

She said millers should ensure that their business premises, the maize milling equipment and stores are regularly cleaned and that the cleaning records are well kept, as required by Uganda standards.

“The millers are further advised to ensure that there are no foreign matters like stones, wooden particles, hair or nails in the flour, and that they should use magnets to get rid of metal that could have contaminated the maize flour during the milling process,” Kirabo said.

She added that the dealers should avoid storing maize and its products directly on the floor, but instead store it on pallets to avoid contact with damp floors that could lead to moulds and Aflatoxin contamination.

She said the dealers are also to avoid using unacceptable pest control methods like spraying with pesticides and insecticides which contaminates the maize flour.

Among the certified companies the regulator named include Mandela Millers Limited, Grainpulse Limited, Nanziga Millers Association Ltd, Bembabazi Millers, Nambale Super Millers Limited, Milly Maize Millers, Madfa Discount Centre, Aponye (Uganda) Limited, Gwt (U) Limited, Link N Global Commodity (U) Ltd, Milling Is Us (U) Limited, D.Kalere General Supplies Limited, New Fort View Hotel Co. Limited, Afro-Kai Limited, Kika investments Poultry And Animal Feeds Limited, Kabogambe (Kkb) Maize Millers Limited B & S Group Of Companies Limited, Maganjo Grain Millers Limited, Olympic Milling Limited, Wani Lolu Investment (U) Limited, Ryanja Millers Limited, Rhino Stars Genesis Limited, Arise And Shine Maize Millers Limited.