East Africa Market Assessments launch in Kenya and Tanzania
1 July 2025ATNi (Access to Nutrition initiative) has launched the East Africa Market Assessments (EAMA) in Kenya and Tanzania, providing a comprehensive overview of the region’s evolving packaged processed food landscape. The initiative includes:
- Mapping of the packaged processed food environment in both countries
- Nutritional evaluation of packaged processed foods from 51 manufacturers using multiple Nutrient Profiling Models (NPM)
- Assessment of nutrition-related policies and disclosures of 22 major food and beverage companies
The assessments reveal limited but emerging efforts of food and beverage companies to improve the nutritional quality of their products and influence healthier consumer choices. Using the Health Star Rating NPM, only 33% of packaged processed foods in Kenya and 25% in Tanzania can be considered ‘healthy’. These findings come at a pivotal moment, as African food systems face rising modern retail, increased consumption of packaged processed foods, and growing rates of obesity alongside persistent micronutrient deficiencies.
ATNi launched the research in Kenya and Tanzania to a wide variety of key stakeholders, including government ministries, academia, civil society, and the food and beverage industry. Multistakeholder discussions revealed the need for:
- Governments to act on creating healthier food environments, including by regulating the labelling and marketing of packaged processed foods, and implementing fiscal measures to drive reformulation;
- Civil society and academia to produce research that holds industry accountable on nutrition in East Africa; and
- Food and beverage companies to integrate nutrition into their commercial operations, and be more transparent about their nutrition-related activities in East Africa.
Following regional launches of the Tanzania and Kenya Market Assessments, the global launch webinar highlighted key research findings from these projects and stimulated discussions on the food environment in East Africa and its impact on nutrition outcomes.
Presentations included policy, diet, and food environment context in Kenya and Tanzania, EAMA project components, Corporate Profile assessments, Product Profile assessments, an exploration of the EAMA dashboards, and Q&A with the audience.
Speakers:
- Keynote: Zachariah Muriuki, Nutrition Officer, MoH Kenya
- Keynote: Stephanie Kaaya, Tanzania Bureau of Standards
- Greg Garrett, Executive Director, ATNi
- Elena Schmider, EAMA Research Lead, ATNi
- Babs Ates, Head of Research and Product Profile Lead, ATNi
- Eaindra Aye, EAMA Data Analyst and Interactive Dashboard Lead, ATNi
Moderator:
- Obey Nkya, Market Lead Consultant, ATNi, Tanzania