The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has defended five Kenyan alcoholic beverage brands temporarily suspended by the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority (Rwanda FDA).
In a statement on Tuesday, August 11, KEBS said the five products had gone through the required regulatory processes in Kenya and had been assessed against applicable Kenyan and East African standards before being allowed on the market.
"KEBS wishes to reassure consumers, trade partners, and the public that the five alcoholic beverage brands recently suspended by the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority have undergone rigorous conformity assessment, market surveillance, factory inspection, and laboratory testing by KEBS and have been found to comply with the applicable Kenyan and East African Standards," the statement read.
The standards body also said the affected products remained properly certified and continued to satisfy the required standards on quality, safety and labelling.
"The products bear valid Standardization Marks and continue to meet the prescribed requirements for quality, safety, and labelling," the statement added.
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KEBS further said it was confident in its certification and conformity assessment systems and had opened discussions with Rwanda FDA and other regional regulators to determine why the products were suspended.
"The Bureau remains confident in the robustness of its conformity assessment systems and is actively engaging the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority and other regional regulatory bodies to establish the basis for the temporary suspension and facilitate a technical resolution through established East African Community frameworks," the statement noted.
The five affected products are Kenya King Gin and Safari Gin, manufactured by London Distillers Kenya Ltd, Avalon and Sweet Berry Potable Spirits, manufactured by Zheng Hong (K) Ltd, and Gilbey's Gin, manufactured by Kenya Breweries Ltd.
KEBS said the products had been certified under specific East African standards governing alcoholic beverages, with the requirements covering composition, alcohol content, methanol levels, packaging, labelling and consumer safety.
"These products are certified against the requirements of KS EAS 145:2018, Gin Specification, KS EAS 142:2018, Vodka Specification, and KS EAS 109:2018, Potable Spirit Specification, which prescribe requirements relating to composition, alcohol content, methanol limits, higher alcohols, esters, volatile acids, packaging, labelling, and consumer safety," the statement further read.
Following the Rwanda FDA announcement, KEBS said it launched a detailed review of the affected products, examining certification records, quality assurance reports, market surveillance results, factory inspections and laboratory tests while consulting the manufacturers and relevant regional institutions.
"Following the Rwanda FDA announcement, KEBS immediately initiated a comprehensive review involving product certification records, quality assurance reports, market surveillance findings, factory inspections, laboratory testing, and consultations with the affected manufacturers, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), the affected Partner States Bureau of Standards, and the Secretariat East African Community (EAC), Quality Assurance and Testing Sub-committee," the statement explained.
The review, according to KEBS, found that each of the five products had undergone the necessary conformity assessment and testing and had met the prescribed quality and safety requirements.
"The review confirmed that all five products had undergone conformity assessment and testing against the applicable standards and complies with the prescribed quality and safety requirements," the statement read.
KEBS also examined historical laboratory reports covering several parameters used to assess the safety and quality of alcoholic beverages.
"KEBS further reviewed historical laboratory test reports covering key parameters including ethyl alcohol content, methanol, higher alcohols, esters, aldehydes, and volatile acids, all of which demonstrated compliance with the relevant standards at the time of certification and surveillance," the statement added.
The standards body said its routine market surveillance programme had also included potable spirits sold in Kenya during the 2024/2025 financial year.
During the exercise, KEBS sampled and tested 69 potable spirit products and said they complied with the applicable standards.
To establish the current compliance status of the five products, KEBS conducted targeted inspections at their manufacturing facilities between August 7 and 10, 2026. Fresh samples were also collected from the facilities for laboratory analysis.
The inspections covered the manufacturers' production systems and controls, as well as traceability, hygiene, sanitation, packaging, labelling and Good Manufacturing Practices.
"The inspections assessed manufacturing processes, quality management systems, process controls, product traceability, hygiene and sanitation, packaging and labelling, and Good Manufacturing Practices," the statement further read.
KEBS said laboratory tests on the fresh samples subsequently confirmed that the five products met the requirements of KS EAS 145:2018, the Gin Specification, and KS EAS 109:2018, the Potable Spirit Specification.
The analysis covered alcohol content, methanol, higher alcohols, esters, aldehydes, volatile acids and labelling.
The inspections also found that the facilities producing the affected alcoholic beverages were meeting the relevant quality, safety and regulatory requirements, according to KEBS.
"The inspections also established that the manufacturing facilities were operating in compliance with applicable quality, safety, and regulatory requirements," the statement concluded.
This comes days after KEBS defended its decision to clear a controversial consignment of imported raw sugar.
Appearing before the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperatives on Tuesday, July 28, KEBS Managing Director Esther Ngari explained that the shipment met the country's inspection requirements before it was allowed into the country.
She told the committee that the bureau relied on inspection reports prepared by its contracted inspection firm in South Africa under the country's Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) Programme.
Ngari further explained that KEBS only carries out its own independent analysis to verify the contractor's findings when there is credible information indicating possible foul play or non-compliance with the required standards.
She also told lawmakers that KEBS' primary responsibility is to ensure that processed sugar released into the Kenyan market complies with all quality and safety requirements.
KEBS maintained that the imported consignment was intended strictly for industrial processing and was not meant for direct consumption.
Ngari assured the committee that measures had been put in place to prevent raw sugar from entering the retail market before processing.
The bureau also revealed that it had already collected samples from part of the processed sugar, carried out laboratory analysis, and issued a clearance certificate after confirming that the refined product met the country's quality standards.
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