NAFDAC seizes N28.75m worth of potassium bromate used by bakers

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2 years ago

Hard time awaits Nigerian bakeries, particularly those producers of unlabelled bread as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) yesterday vowed to clamp down on any bakery using the banned carcinogenic substance, potassium bromate.

Also, the Agency on 7th of December, 2022 confiscated potassium bromate tablets worth N28.75 million at a warehouse in Apongbon, Lagos.

NAFDAC’s Acting Director General Dr Monica on Monday said the agency acting on an intelligent report uncovered 115 cartoons of potassium bromate with a street value of N28.75million and counterfeit EDC Bread Improver, packed in sachets with a fake NAFDAC registration number 01-4242, worth three hundred thousand naira (N300,000:00) at the warehouse.

She declared that One Rapoluchukwu Joseph was arrested as the importer during the operation.

According to her, there are recommended healthy flour improvers approved by the Agency and henceforth, any flour product containing potassium bromate will be confiscated and the producer will be made to face the wrath of the law.

She added, “As you are aware, Potassium bromate is a banned flour improver globally as it is a known cancer-causing agent. It can also cause kidney failure among other ailments.

“Potassium bromate popularly known as tablets in the black economy is always attractive to merchants of death who want to make outrageous profits at the expense of citizens’ wellbeing.

“This is because apart from improving the texture of a loaf, it also increases its volume and it is relatively cheap. For example, the seized tablets could be used with three hundred thousand (300,000) bags of 50kg flour to produce about thirty (30) million family-sized loaves of bread.”

The acting NAFDAC DG also presented to the media two arrested suspects in connection with the importation of counterfeit SUPER DELICIOUS cooking margarine with fake NAFDAC registration number (A1-2508)

The 400 cartons of the fake margarine with 60 sachets each having a street value of N8 million were intercepted in Kano on the 9th of September, 2022.

She said that one Owerekwe Obinna Michael ‘male’ 46 years of 12 Boundry Street, Aba, Abia State was arrested by the agency as the importer of the counterfeit product.

According to her, the importer claimed he imported the counterfeit margarine from Dubai and cleared it at Onne Port, Port Harcourt. The accused also admitted to distributing the product to Markets across the country.

The acting DG said the said Counterfeit margarine on preliminary examination had no manufacturer’s name written on it, but was produced for a company in Indonesia.

She, therefore, enjoined the public to watch out for these injurious products anywhere in the country and report the same or any suspected fake/counterfeit or unwholesome product to any nearest NAFDAC Office even as the agency continues its investigations on fake and counterfeit products in the country.

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