Killer Bread: Why Nigerians risk cancer over use of bromate — Researchers

,,,How our daily bread is becoming daily poison
…WHO, FAO express concern
…NAFDAC reads riot act to bakeries, threatens crackdown
Our loaves are safe, go after quacks, PBAN challenges NAFDAC
…Why we can’t do without bread — Citizens
By Clifford Ndujihe

Over time, bread has remained a staple food consumed by most families worldwide, including Nigeria. It has emerged as one of the most popular meal options that can be combined with various nuts, seeds, liquids, etc, to make a cheap and quick hunger-quenching meal.

Bread was so popular and significant that Jesus, more than 2,025 years ago, taught his disciples to pray to God thus: “Give us this day our daily bread’ (Matt 6.11).
However, the unethical and sharp practices of some bakers make bread consumption an ingestion of daily poison.

How? Researchers across many Nigerian cities have found that many bread brands contain potassium bromate and impermissible levels of other heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury, lead, chromium, manganese, nickel, cobalt and zinc.

Those who consume bread contaminated by potassium bromate and trace metals, over a long time, are prone to many illnesses, including cancer and kidney failure.

Consequently, they urged the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, to take decisive steps, ensure close monitoring of bakeries across the country and avert health disaster as many consumers gave reasons they were addicted to bread.

Permissible level

Certain nations have set precise thresholds for certain levels of potassium bromate in final baked products, whereas others have prohibited its usage outright. In Nigeria, NAFDAC enforced a ban on using potassium bromate in flour milling and baking in 2003.

However, the World Health Organization, WHO; Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO; and the Food and Drug Agency, FDA; recommended an acceptable daily intake of 0.02 mg.kg-1 for potassium bromate in bread

Most of the bread brands sampled in Ado-Ekiti, Ile-Ife, Port Harcourt, Yobe and Lagos contain over 0.05mg/kg of potassium bromate.

This disclosure is coming as NAFDAC warned bakeries to stop using saccharine and bromate in bread production, adding that those caught would be closed down.
However, the Professional Bakers Association of Nigeria, PBAN, has challenged NAFDAC to stop issuing warnings, and crackdown on quack bakers, claiming that its members produce safe and quality bread under hygienic conditions.

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