Maize millers adding fortifiers to unga has caused a huge uproar after Lea Premium’s head of marketing admitted on live TV that they added chemicals or fortifiers to the flour to make it “whiter”, “fluffier”, and “sweeter”. Douglas Kuria, CEO of New Paleah Millers, talked about how these additives change regular unga into a puffed-up treat on NTV’s Fixing The Nation with Eric Latiff.
He said, “If you cook it in your small sufuria, you will see it ballooning.” During a talk about being open about food processing, Kuria defended the practice as a way to make food healthier.
He said that fortifiers are things like vitamins, minerals, and things that make food better, like emulsifiers and enzymes. The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) requires these for enriched staples.
But his realistic demo, which looked like a sufuria swell, made people gasp and changed the focus from health benefits to secret tweaks that make the product more appealing and louder.
Kuria wasn’t the only one who did this; other millers also spoke up, saying they did the same things to stand out in a tough market. One executive joked, “It makes the flour bigger, so your ugali stretches further.”
This shows how these secrets keep prices low even when there isn’t enough maize. But for families who don’t have a lot of money, admitting this feels like a betrayal, paying for “premium” that might just be chemical puffery.
Consumer protection groups jumped on it. The Kenya Consumer Protection Advisory Committee (KCPAC) called the admissions “deceptive marketing” and told KEBS to look into the honesty of the labels.
“Kenyans deserve truth in every scoop,” tweeted activist Boniface Mwangi. His tweet went viral, getting 50,000 shares in one night. Nutritionists also spoke out, saying that fortification is good for filling in micronutrient gaps but that using it too much could hide bad maize.
Here is the head of marketing Lea Premium Fortified sifted maize meal confessing on how they add chemicals to their Unga. Tangu lini ugali ikaanza kufura! Let me take out the maize I carried from Sikhendu out to dry before October rains come knocking. pic.twitter.com/a0Pv6PG0XZ
— George T. Diano (@georgediano) October 3, 2025
People’s reactions were strong in Nairobi’s busy markets. Mama mboga Jane Oloo, who has three kids, held on to her unga packet and said, “I thought it was just better milling; now it feels like a trick.”
Millers like Lea Premium, which says it has 20% of the market, are being told to stop selling their products, but Kuria says the additives are safe and approved by the government.
As the night went on, NTV’s clip got 2 million views, which led to questions from MP Okiya Omtatah in Parliament about food safety rules. With the price of unga at Sh150 for 2 kg, this admission about Kenya’s unga fortifiers shows the dirty side of Kenya’s main food, where nutrition and need meet and a little chemistry keeps the pot boiling.