Kenya will not implement some of the food standards recently recommended by a joint commission of two United Nations agencies on food and health.

Some of the rules, such limits on the amount of melamine allowed in food, are not applicable to the country as Kenya already considers the chemical harmful.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission, a joint body of the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation, last week released guidelines that among others put the maximum amount of melamine allowed in powdered infant formula to one milligram per kilogramme of food (1 mg/kg), and the amount of the chemical allowed in other foods and animal feed to 2.5 mg/kg.

The intention of the guidelines is to help prevent dangerous contamination of food with melamine, a toxic chemical.

The new limits can be present in food without causing health problems.

The guidelines are not binding for UN member countries, but those that accept the recommendations are expected to engrave into national food standards.

Disease control

Melamine is a synthetic chemical with a variety of industrial uses including the production of resins and foams, cleaning products, fertilisers and pesticides.

It does not occur naturally in food, according to the Centre for Disease Control.

A senior official of the Kenya Bureau of Standards who attended the meeting that made the recommendations in Rome, Italy, said the standards will not be applied in Kenya.

"Kenya will not agree to melamine because we already do not allow it in the country," said the official who declined to be named because she is not an authorised spokesperson for the KEBS.

Officials at the parastatal's communications department were said to be away from office.

Jean Banda, the executive director of Kenya Kidney and Lupus Foundation, said allowing melamine, especially in infant food, will spell disaster for their health.

"The chemical leads to kidney failure and kidney stones," Ms Banda said.

Last year, there was a global recall of infant food manufactured in China because it was found to have high melamine content.

The chemical was added to food to increase the apparent protein content of the products.

Babies and children died as a result and hundreds of thousands became seriously ill.

The recall did not affect Kenya though, because most mothers traditionally use British-manufactured infant food formula.

"We need to be careful whom we trade with," said Ms Banda, suggesting that since melamine is also found in fertiliser, it is important that its content in imported fertiliser is established.

But even without adding the chemical to food directly as happens in China, melamine is used in a variety of industrial processes - including the manufacture of plastics used for dishware and kitchenware and can coatings.

Traces of it unavoidably get into food by contact, without causing health problems.

"Establishment of maximum levels will help governments differentiate between low levels of unavoidable melamine occurrence that do not cause health problems, and deliberate adulteration - thereby protecting public health without unnecessary impediments to international trade," said Martijn Weijtens, chair of the Codex Committee on contaminants in foods.

Over 500 delegates from 130 countries attended the 33rd Session of Codex Alimentarius Commission.

The commission also released recommendations for hygienic measures for safer fresh salads and seafood because these products move from farm, through the sales chain, to the table.

As a result, they can be contaminated by pathogens such as salmonella, e. coli, and hepatitis A virus.

The new measures provide specific guidance for production, harvesting, packing, processing, storage, distribution, marketing and consumer education to reduce food safety risks associated with these products.

The guidelines cover such aspects as the control of irrigation water, cooling and storage, and correct washing of hands by consumers.

Kenya is a major exporter of fresh fruits and vegetables to the European market some of which are used to make salads.

Food borne diseases

The commission also gave advice on how to control bacteria in seafood throughout the food chain.

In recent years, there has been an increase in reported outbreaks of food borne diseases caused by bacterial species called Vibrio, which are typically associated with the consumption of seafood - especially oysters that are often eaten raw.

The commission also released new methods to determine if the food content has been developed using biotechnology.

The new guidelines, for example, will make it possible to run tests to determine if foods are derived from modern biotechnology, authenticate food varieties such as fish species, and establish the presence of allergens.

"Agreement on the guidelines marks an important international consensus in the area of biotechnology where the commission has already developed a number of guidelines related to food safety assessments for foods derived from modern biotechnology," it said in a statement.