Doris Obinna   

The director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug and Administration Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has tasked bread producers on bread quality and safety standards, while urging them to adhere to the agency’s guidelines to improve quality and prevent health hazards.

Adeyeye stated this at a one-day workshop in Lagos to remind bread producers of the basic good hygiene practice (GHP) requirements and the need for effective compliance with NAFDAC guidelines and procedures.

She said: “Surveillance activities through routine inspection have shown lack of commitment by most bakers to good hygiene practices, so, there is need for bakers to understand the safety standards that must be adhered to in order to increase consumer’s confidence in food safety.”

This according to Adeyeye has necessitated the need for the agency to collaborate with good hygiene practice through frequent workshops and grassroots sensistisation activities. “The illegal use of dough improvers like potassium bromate, a potential carcinogen in bread has been of food safety concern.

“Therefore, it is expected that bread quality intervention strategy will ensure that all bread producing facilities will produce safe bread for the Nigeria populace because the effective protection of over 167million Nigeria public against cancer requires a preventive management approach,” she stated.

In the same vein, Director, Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Mr. Sherif Olagunju said bakers use potassium bromate because it increases their yield. “Intelligence gathering discovered that most of the bakers keep the potassium bromate in their homes put a few tablets in their pockets and brings to the bakery, so when you search everywhere you would not see anything.”

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“Another thing we discovered is, if somebody is going to make like four or five batches of bread, he may decide to add potassium bromate to like two or three batches and when supplying he will mix them up.

“There is very safe alternative available, most of the flour millers already produced high yeast flours that has the kind of addictive needed. There are quite a number that are already registered with NAFDAC and are safe for use, he added.”

He urged defaulters to desist from potassium bromate because the substance has the capacity to cause cancer and it has been shown and proven through research that this chemical is no longer safe.

On his part, President, Premium Bread makers Association of Nigeria, Tosan Jemide said they are very concerned because is important to stick to the regulations and that the association does not believe in substandard products because they actually promote the use of quality ingredient.

“In a lot of ways, we self regulate as an association, even without NAFDAC, the calibers of people in the association, are well exposed, educated and already understand the basic principles of not feeding the people with poison.

“We are happy NAFDAC is taking this big step, in every way, we are going to support and partner with them as best as we could to ensure that the use of bromate or any other harmful addictive is discouraged completely,” he said.