Group Angered by Milk Adverts

A Sh10 million advertising campaign to entice Kenyans to drink more processed milk came under heavy criticism yesterday from a group of non-governmental organisations. They argued that the campaign - largely financed by the country's main processors and supported by the Kenya Dairy Board - was based on largely unsubstantiated information, and would gravely affect the country's thriving informal milk market.

Styling themselves as 'organisations with interest and expertise in the dairy sub-sector,' the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research, Intermediate Technology Development Group and Strengthening Informal Sector Training and Expertise (SITE) said the ongoing advertising blitz would have a 'negative overall effect' on the majority of consumers, farmers and milk traders who depend on the industry for their livelihoods. Others supporting the sentiments were ActionAid Kenya and International Livestock Research Institute.

'While it is the interest of the country to develop the highest possible standards of quality and consumer safety, this should not be done at the expense of the informal sector, which remains the most successful component of the entire dairy business in Kenya,' said Dr John Omiti of the Institute of Policy Analysis.

Launched early last month and executed by advertising house Saracens, the 'Safe Milk Campaign,' has so far employed aggressive advertising spots in the local electronic media, urging consumers to go for processed milk as opposed to its raw substitute, which is portrayed as prone to adulteration, dangerous handling and possible conveyance of disease-causing organisms. But to the NGOs who called a press conference at Chester House yesterday, there might as well be no difference between the two beyond the tagging of 'raw' and 'processed'.

'Raw milk does not pose some of the health risks often attributed to it, since buyers boil milk before consumption. Milk quality from unlicensed traders is as good as that from licensed ones. Boiling of milk has the same effect as processing does in the removing bacteria and associated health risks,' they asserted in a joint statement. Contrary to claims in the adverts, a study had found that few farmers added formalin and other preservatives such as hydrogen peroxide to their milk, and that this was the preserve of a few middlemen, some of whom supply processors.

The success of the raw milk market - which supports 800,000 farmers and some 350,000 employees and accounts for 86% of all milk sold in Kenya as opposed to just 14% for its processed cousin - was based on an existing need for an affordable and available milk product.