Use of bromate in bread has reduced drastically –NAFDAC



Despite the global ban on the use of Potassium bromate and Azodicarbonmide (chemicals used in embalmment) in bread making, many local bread and confectionaries in Nigeria are still laced with these dangerous chemicals – CHIJIOKE IREMEKA writes






“A traditional loaf needs only four ingredients – flour, yeast, water and salt and there is no need for azodicarbonmide (ADA), Potassium bromate (substance used for body embalmment), calcium propionate, amylase, chlorine dioxide and L-cysteine hydrochloride in our daily bread,” says, Dr. Gladys Okoh, a food scientist and a fellow, Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria.
She argues that instead of these chemicals, the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has approved a number of flour enhancers to be used in bread making, including Vitamin C and Ascorbic Acid; but bakers have found these improvers less effective than those unhealthy improvers.
Sunday Telegraph’s investigations revealed that most local and artisan mortuary attendants (morticians) make use of potassium bromate and azodicarbornate (substances used in baking the popular Agege bread and some other local confectionaries) in, which are used treating and preserving dead bodies.
This was also confirmed by NAFDAC’s Director of Special Duties and Media, Dr. Abubarka Jimoh, when he said: “Yes, a number of people abuse the original use of preservatives and other chemicals in the country, though corpse embalmment is not the original purpose for potassium bromate, this may have been abused by artisans morticians and quacks.”
Again, a neurosurgeon from the University of Munich, a UNESCO Space and Brain researcher, who is the Managing Director, Chidicon Medical Centre in Owerri, Imo State, Prof. Philip Njemanze, confirmed same when he said: “What is bromate doing in the bread? These are heavy metals, which some people use in corpse treatment and embalmment.”
Also, former Director General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, said though potassium bromated is regarded as unsafe ingredients by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of WHO’s Expert Committee on Food Additives, and banned it, “a nationwide surveillance revealed that some bakers still use this dangerous chemical.”
Sunday Telegraph learnt that interest in these substances, especially bromate, lies in their availability, affordability, efficacy and the way it enhances and matures dough, which takes natural improvers between 12 and 24 hours to achieve, which makes mass production friendly.
Chemical leavens are used in quick breads, cakes, cookies and numerous other applications, where a long biological fermentation is unfeasible and undesirable. “This has transformed our foodstuff staple into an industrial conquest, but a nutritional and culinary disaster,” said Chukwunulu Samuel, a food scientist.
Bread improvers aim at boosting the amount of the enzymes artificially, thereby increasing fermentation early in the bread production. This eliminates the need for a long fermentation, which helps companies to produce more products in less time.
Sunday Telegraph learnt that bromate and ADA are authoritative oxidizing agents that mature flour faster than natural air. They bleach dough and enhance its elasticity by strengthening its networks of molecular bridges, which makes for the formation of tiny, thin-walled bubbles as the bread rises. The end product is fluffy, soft and unnaturally white products.
These characteristics are mainly found in popular Agege bread. About 98 % of Agege bread baked in Nigeria contain Potassium bromate, which is a preservative/addictive known for causing cancer. It gives Agege bread the fluffy and tasty feel desired by its consumers.
Sunday Telegraph gathered that up till the 1950s, bread had been baked using sourdough leavening as the main technique, which would take up to a day to produce. This amount of time was necessary for the proper conditioning of the dough. But in recent times, the flour and yeast were changed and a combination of intense energy and additives displaced time in the maturing of dough.
However, as technology finds nifty ways to adulterate our bread, science reveals the havoc this may be causing to public health as recent research suggests urgent need to rethink our bread making methods. More so, with the advent of bakery manufacturing facilities and mass-production of condensed loaves of bread, the production time for bread had to be accelerated.
It was discovered that the addition of certain chemicals and enzymes, especially banned Potassium Bromate and yet to be prohibited, Azodicarbonamide to the bread could shorten the process to two hours instead of the usual12 to 24 hours.
According to a nutritionist and a lecturer at Yaba College of Technology, Dr. Emmanuel Opeifa, commercial bread and confectionaries’ manufacturers have no interest in nutrition but money; they use refined white flour fortified with synthetic vitamins, which are poorly absorbed.
Dr. Opeifa, said ‘bromate free’ expression displays on the label of most bread and confectioneries in the country is a ‘make belief’ in order not to elicit agitations from the public, which will draw NAFDAC’s attention to the products, saying most of them are baked with bromate.
He warned that bromate has adverse effects on human’s health when consumed, insisting that bromate reduces Vitamins A2, B1, B2, E and niacin, which are the main vitamins available in bread and its consumption causes cancer.

…Bakery enzymes derived from unhealthy, non human diet
According to a food scientist, Philomena Akpowheve, a whole host of enzymes are used in baking. Their status as processing aids is based on the assumption that they are ‘used up’ in the production process and are therefore, not really present in the final product.
She argued that such position was a strong deception as that allows the food industry to manipulate what Nigerians eat without their knowledge. She noted that enzyme manufacturers extol the ‘thermostability’ of products, which in other words, its ability to have a lasting effect on the baked bread.
The manufacturers, she insisted, have developed enzymes with two main objectives – to make dough hold more gas (making lighter bread) and to make bread stay softer for a longer time after baking.
“Funny enough, bakery enzymes are derived from substances that are not part of a normal human diet,” he said.
Corroborating her, Sunday Telegraph gathered that the principal use of Azodicarbonamide is in the production of foamed plastics. The thermal decomposition of azodicarbonamide results in the evolution of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and ammonia gases which are trapped in the polymer as bubbles to form a foamed article.
Common examples of this application are window and door gaskets, padded floor mats, gym/exercise mats and shoe soles among others. It was learnt that Azodicarbonamide causes allergic reaction in those sensitive to other azo compounds such as food dyes, while Potassium bromate is a salt widely used as an anticonvulsant and a sedative in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
It’s used as a veterinary drug, as an antiepileptic medication for dogs. Under standard conditions, potassium bromide is a white crystalline powder. It is freely soluble in water.

…Bromate, ADA: Corpse embalmment chemicals –Morticians, pathologist, sellers
According to an artisan mortuary attendant, Efemina Iriruaga, Potassium bromated is used in treatment and preservation of dead bodies due to its efficacy and cheapness. “While other preservatives, like formaldehyde and formalin, are expensive and not readily available, bromate is everywhere. We also use hot drinks ogogoro too,” he said.
“We are not allowed to use bromate because it’s not an official chemical for us. We make use of formaldehyde and others in its class but bromate helps to remove the blood from the body to ensure that the body doesn’t smell or spoil. When bromate is used, the body will be tied tightly with bandage so that the blood will go out. And this will prevent decomposition of the corpse.
“The bacteria that cause body to decompose live in the blood and body fluid. So, the first thing is to get them out. After tying bandages, we will allow for some time for the bandages to absorb the blood in that body. It also helps to dry up the remaining fluid in the corpse,” said Dr. Kim Egwu, a pathologist at Iyienu General Hospital, Ogidi, Anambra State.
Bromate seller on the Lagos Island, Oscar

Ojukwu said: “Yes, Potassium bromide is used by some local and quack mortuary attendants to preserve dead bodies. Though, it’s not the main reason for the chemical, yet bakers and mortuary attendants also buy from us. That is why I don’t eat Agege bread and some local bread.”
NAFDAC’s Director of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN), Mrs. Mainasora Ogochukwu, earlier said there are many violations from bakers, ranging from use of banned substances such as potassium bromate to improper packaging and labeling.
According to her, the agency has put measures in place to ensure that the flour is well fortified with Vitamin A and B as well as enforcing mandatory compliance with good hygiene practice at food production facilities.
Sequel to this, NAFDAC had recommended the use of Vitamin C, Ascorbic Acid and other reagents as alternative flour improvers and oxidizing agents to replace potassium bromate but most bakeries have shunned the new alternatives because they allegedly lack the perceived magical touch, which Potassium bromate gives to dough.




Why we can’t stop using bromate in bread – Bakers
The Chief Executive Officer of Anambra-based Amy Best Catering Services, Miss Amarachi Okeke, said bromate is the cheapest of all dough improvers readily available.
“There are different types of bromate. There is one for cakes and others for bread. Cake bromate makes the cake crispy. It comes in blue package and whitish in colour, while bread bromate comes in tablet forms and has different colours. It makes the bread to rise.
“If you buy a bag of flour and put one tablet of bromide inside it when mixing, you can get up to one and half bags. Cake bromate sells for N100 (two table spoon). Ideally, two kilos of flour takes a table spoons measure of bromate. Ordinarily, golden syrup (enzyme) and egg make cakes crispy. To get the crispy nature right, half a crate of eggs (15 eggs) goes for one kilo of flour. Compare N100 bromate with N600 half a crate of eggs. These are the places we cut cost. So, you can see why it’s impossible to rule out bromate from bread and other confectionary making,” she said.
A source at Vianna bread factory, Awka, Anambra State capital, said though the company ensures normal practice in the factory, others, who are conscious of profits, put excess quantity of bromate in the bread.
The source said: “One tablet of bromate supposed to go for a bag of flour but people put three tablets in a bag to maximize its effect. When they make use of bromate, they put small dough in the bread pan and it rises beyond your imagination.”
A private bread baker at Ikotu Egbe, Lagos, who spoke on the position of anonymity said, “The major reason bakeries still use bromate is because of its action in rising flour. Potassium bromate acts faster than Vitamins C and others, especially, when used on poor quality flour. The major challenge in both flour milling industry and bakeries is the baking quality of flour, which is determined by the capacity of the dough to retain gas.”
He said due to poor quality and wide variations in the composition of some flour, various treatments and supplement conditioning agents, flour improvers are added.
A local and cheap bread maker in Ojo area of Lagos State, Razak Ibirogbe said: “We can’t stop using bromate but we ensure that we don’t use it in excess. We produce bread two times a day and it’s only bromate that has allowed us do this. Yes, NAFDAC gave us Vitamins C and other improvers but Vitamin C does not do what the potassium does. We have problem with the quality of flour produced in Nigeria.
“So, Vitamin C does not bleach flour to have the whitish colour of the bread. Having said that, Vitamins C is more expensive than Potassium bromate. Potassium bromate is used up in the oven and does not show up in the final bread. This what some people don’t know. If anything remains, it will be a negligible quantity.”
On the contrary, at Ijeoma Bread, Nkpor, Anambra State, Blessing Obi said her company does not use bromate in bread baking, saying there are other flour and dough improvers, they use including Vitamin C, though she refused to mention other improvers they use.
At Tank and Tummy, another eatery along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, the same was the case. At Domino Pizza, Ogba, Lagos, one of the officials said their products are free from all harmful flour improvers, saying that standard is their watchword. Also, Big Treat Bread on the same axis claimed the same.
“We are aware of the NAFDAC’s standard and we do not want to estrange our good relationship with NAFDAC and the Federal Ministry of Health. We started this business to succeed. It’s too early for us to start making case with Nigerians,” said Ozioma Iwunze, the Managing Director, Kay-D Bread, Ojo, Lagos.

Agege bread consumers’ dilemma
One of the elitist bread consumers, Barr Emeka Ndukwe, said: “If NAFDAC, which controls and regulates the food we eat and provides us with expertise health information that would help us live healthy and says that bromate in the bread is bad, then, I should obey and go for the ones that do not have such substance.”
Mr. Adelekan Abiola, an automobile engineer, said Agege bread has always been the bread he knew right from childhood. He will not pay heed to any news that will discourage his continued eating of the bread, whether bromate inclusive or not, adding that the world has always discourage people from eating what they enjoy eating.
“My father had been eating Agege bread and has not died of cancer or had any serious health crises. Eating Agege bread is not going to kill any Lagosian. Agege bread is cheap, soft, delicious and available in all sizes that everybody, both rich and poor, can afford. So, if NAFDAC is going to start the battle again, they are free, but Agege bread has been on for ages. Even, there are rich Yoruba families that do not eat any other bread except the Agege bread. What will you say about that?” he said.
Mutiyat Adeoye is aware of NAFDAC’s crusade against potassium bromate but couldn’t be separated from Agege bread. “I’m aware of potassium bromate, but to stop eating the bread a difficult task for me. I’m attracted to Agege bread for its softness and taste.

Bromate, ADA in children, lead to deafness – Experts
Dr. Magomya A. Magomya of the Department of Chemical Sciences, Federal University Wukari, said bromate toxicity occurs primarily in children due to its strong oxidizing effects.
“Bromates are bio-stable and are easily able to cross cellular biologic membrane to cause intracellular toxicity. Its cytoxicity to the outer hair cells in cochlea leads to deafness. In renal tubles, it leads to acute renal failure and deformation in babies unborn as well as mental retardation in children. Sometimes, severe cases are fatal.”
He noted that Potassium bromate in human is harmful and can cause serious health crises such as cough and sore throat when inhaled, abdominal pain, diarrhea bronchial, nausea, vomiting, kidney failure, hearing loss, and ocular problems, including other non cancer-related problems.




Bromate in corpse embalmment abuse of purpose – NAFDAC
However, NAFDAC’s Director of Special Duties and Media, Dr. Abubarka Jimoh, said there are tendencies for people to abuse the use of one product or the other, but the purpose of bromate is not for embalmment.
“From the result of our surveillance and mentoring activities nationwide, the use of bromate in bread has reduced drastically. We cannot say totally eliminated because there is the possibility of some of culprits making use of it in bread in some areas of the country, which has not come to the knowledge of the NAFDAC. But we have over 90 per cent compliant in area of bromate use.
“It was possible for us to achieve this because we partnered with Master Bakers Association nationwide. We educated them on the dangers of using bromate and other dangerous substances in consumables. Initially, when we tried to win bakers, they asked of alternative and we gave them ascorbic acid and Vitamin C.
“But they had a challenge with that, saying they cannot achieve the dough foam as in the case of Potassium bromate. So, we brought in experts who went round teaching the association how to achieve dough foam with Vitamin C. So, the act has been perfected and the use of bromate has been put behind us. If there is an issue please tells us where they are so we can achieve 100 per cent complaint. We believe in intelligent information from the public and media.”
Responding to the question on-the-spot-testing of bread for bromate, he said: “Three years ago, we did recertification all over the country, where we sent experts to do on-the-sport testing of bread to know whether it has bromate or not. In the past, we took samples to the lab and how many bread will be taken to the lab? Our lab was inundated with bread samples and so, itemised efficient and simple way of monitoring bread on the spot.”
On the use of Azodicarbonmide, he said NAFDAC has not certified it yet but will confirm from the Directorate of food and Applied Nutrition as at the time of press.
However, in line with on-the-spot bread test initiative for the detection of the bromate and other harmful bread improvers, bread is said to have bromate once the bread is squeezed and does not bounce back to its original form.
Most Agege bread is made from white flour known for containing high levels of refined sugar, which increases the chances of Heart Disease, Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity. Hence, Agege bread as well as other breads made from white flour is less nutritious and bad source of carbohydrates. It contains high levels of table salt, which triggers the development of high blood pressure.

https://newtelegraphonline.com/2017/10/still-use-embalmment-chemicals-bakers/

Why no mention of yeast in this article, is it no longer use for baking?