Naivas supermarket has suspended the sale of red meat in all their branches countrywide following health concerns over excess preservatives.

“We will only be selling white meat for now in all our butcheries,” said Naivas Chief Commercial Officer Willy Kimani.

The ban by Naivas comes in the background of a countrywide crackdown on food retailers following a recent expose by NTV that revealed a good number of supermarkets were selling meat laced with excess levels of Sodium metabisulphite to unsuspecting consumers.

Governors Mike Sonko (Nairobi) and Alfred Mutua (Machakos) on Thursday closed down the meat sections of various supermarkets in their counties.

Mutua had ordered the closure of all butchery sections in Naivas stores in Machakos county saying laboratory reports showed that samples of meat sold at the Naivas Supermarket at Gateway Mall in Mavoko, Machakos County, had 3,286 milligrams of an additive that should not be used in meat.

Among the six sections closed in Nairobi is Tuskys Supermarket along Kenyatta Avenue after samples indicated that the meat has 63,000 milligrams of Sodium Metabisulfite per kilogram contrary to the required limit of a maximum of 5,000 milligrams per kilogram.

Other Supermarkets whose meat sections were closed include Tuskys Buruburu, The point Naivas limited Buruburu, and Muthaiga Fine Meat Limited.