The Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria (PBAN) has dissociated its members from the allegations of compromising on standards in the production of bread due to the high cost of ingredients. This is coming against the backdrop of revelations by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) that bread sold in the markets is failing laboratory tests because bakers are using saccharine due to the high cost of sugar.
NAFDAC Southwest Coordinator, Mrs. Roseline Ajayi, had, during a stakeholder meeting organized in Ibadan said: “Recently, we observed that bread sold in the markets is failing laboratory tests because producers are using saccharine due to the high cost of sugar.
“They are introducing ingredients that are not good for the health of the consumers.”
But in a counter, the President of PBAN, Engineer Emmanuel Onuorah, vouched for the members of the association across the country.
His words: “I can conveniently speak for PBAN members across Nigeria.
“PBAN members do not use unwholesome materials to produce our bread, we are very mindful of the quality of bread we produce for consumers knowing the negative health implications of the use of unwholesome baking materials to bake bread.
“We would rather adjust the price of our bread to maintain quality, rather than use unwholesome material to produce bread that will cause health problems to Nigerians.
“In PBAN, we have our Compliance Unit that monitors the materials that our members use to produce. Our constitution empowers the Exco to report any of our members found using unwholesome materials to bake bread to our regulator, NAFDAC.”
Onuorah however conceded that the continuous upward spike in the price of all baking materials such as flour, sugar, ascorbic acid, bread softener, bread improver, egg, milk, yeast, etc, remain one of the major challenges confronting bread producers in the country.
