NAFDAC this weekend warned bakeries nationwide against using saccharin and bromate in bread production.

The director-general of the agency, Mojisola Adeyeye, gave a warning again during an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). 

She said bakeries caught in the act would face severe consequences.

“This is where our post-marketing surveillance comes in.

” We go out routinely to look for certain products; sometimes, it may be due to complaints through our reform office.

“We have closed down a few bakeries because they use bromate during bread production.

” If we find out, or someone suspected or tasted the bread and it has bromate, we will shut the bakery down.

“We have equally closed down many water-producing factories as a result of substandard production or producing it in an unhygienic environment.

“Our Regulatory Inspection Directorate is important to us because it ensures that what is brought to us at the point of registration is what is still in the market.

“When we do an inspection at the beginning, we go there and take samples and test the product

”Sometimes, after they know the product has been registered, they change the production process or formula.

“This is why post-marketing surveillance monitoring is very important.

” It ensures that what they brought to us is still in the market to maintain the standard.

” That is what is called market control,” she said.

The agency has for years led campaigns against the use of harmful products in bakery products, and the latest campaign came after following alarming levels of non-compliance nationwide.