Assessment of Bread Safety in Nigeria: One Decade after the Ban on the Use of Potassium Bromate

Abstract

In 2004 the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the agency responsible for regulating drugs, foods and chemicals in Nigeria, banned the use of potassium bromate in bread on account of its deleterious effect and carcinogenicity in humans. Consequently, researchers periodically evaluate the compliance level by the industries and the results have been alarming. In the present evaluation, carried out in the Nigeria's federal capital; the seat of government, twenty-six different brands of breads were sampled from the 6 area councils. Quality assessment shows that, all the brands contained potassium bromate in a quantity that exceeded the minimum recommended by the FDA suggesting that most bread circulating in FCT are unsafe for human consumption. Two of the bread samples which were relatively safe were not even registered by NAFDAC. It is therefore concluded that, urgent steps need to be taken to prevent the looming danger of consuming carcinogenic products circulating in town before its too late.