FCCPC Cautions Bakers, Confectionery Brand Owners On Unsafe Shortcuts As Carcinogen Concerns Resurface
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has warned bakery and confectionery operators against compromising food safety or misleading consumers, at a stakeholder engagement in Lagos this week after a food scientist disclosed that potassium bromate, a bread improver banned in Nigeria since 2003, was still turning up in bread loaves sold across the country.
FCCPC’s Executive Vice-Chairman, Tunji Bello, represented by South-West Zonal Coordinator Olubunmi Otti, told operators that rising input costs could not justify unsafe substitutes, prohibited additives, poor hygiene or inaccurate labelling of weight, ingredients, shelf life and allergens. “When input costs rise, businesses cannot resort to unsafe substitutes, harmful or prohibited additives, poor-quality ingredients, compromised hygiene, manipulated expiry information or other shortcuts that transfer commercial risks to consumers,” he said. He called on operators to imbibe safety into every stage of production rather than treating compliance as something to prepare for only when regulators visit.
FCCPC’s South-West Head of Legal, Peter Nwebonyi, said the commission’s enforcement powers extend beyond its own enabling act. “We look into other laws like the NAFDAC Act and the SON Act and enforce them,” he said, adding that the commission can conduct unannounced factory inspections. He described the Lagos engagement as a sensitisation exercise ahead of what he called full-scale regional market enforcement and factory shutdowns, and warned bakery trade associations against anti-competitive practices such as setting excessive entry fees.
The warnings were reinforced by findings presented at the same event by Dr Grillo Adebayo of the University of Lagos’s Department of Food Science, who told the gathering that a review of 47 Nigerian studies spanning the country’s six geopolitical zones found that potassium bromate was still present in wheat flour and finished bread, including in some loaves labelled “bromate-free.” He cited one underlying study in which 14 of 36 tested samples contained the chemical, all of them unregistered with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). “Some bakeries falsely label their products ‘bromate-free’ despite containing the chemical,” he said, adding that a growing volume of unregistered, unlabelled artisanal bread makes the problem harder for regulators to monitor.
Adebayo’s figures are consistent with published research. A 2023 review by Mode, Dandare and Umar in the Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management assessed 47 Nigerian studies conducted between 2006 and 2022 across 25 states and found that 95.74 percent of them detected potassium bromate in bread samples, two decades after the ban took effect. A separate 2022 review of 17 studies across the six geopolitical zones reached a similar conclusion, finding excess bromate even in bread marketed as “bromate-free” or carrying a NAFDAC registration number.
Adebayo also told the forum that poor handling after baking, during cooling, slicing and packaging, is now the leading source of microbial contamination in bread, since the baking process itself kills off most pathogens. He urged bakers to adopt formal Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) protocols, alongside stricter equipment disinfection and waste management.
The event drew representatives from NAFDAC, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA) and the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria. Neither NAFDAC nor the bakers’ association, have issued any public comment on the bromate findings.
FCCPC’s warning comes as the commission continues a broader push on labelling and product-safety compliance across sectors, having held similar stakeholder engagements with businesses over pricing and labelling in recent months. Nigeria’s bakery sector includes a large informal segment that operates outside NAFDAC registration entirely; Adebayo’s findings indicate bromate contamination is concentrated in that unregistered segment, which regulators have historically struggled to trace and inspect.
