‘Bakers to pay N2.0m for breach of hygiene code’

Bakers are now to pay the sum of two million naira for any breach of hygiene regulations in the bakeries and other confectionaries.

This was simultaneously made known by the Technical Support Officer of the Crown Flour Mills, Kazeem Abiola and the Public Relations Officer of the Master Bakers Association of Nigeria (MBAN), Mr. Nura Musa during an engagement held between MBAN and major stakeholders held in Abuja.         

The Public Relations Officer of the Master Bakers, Mr. Nura Musa noted that NAFDAC has taken seriously the issue of poor hygiene being exhibited by increasing the fine from 50,000 naira to the current amount in 2020.  

Nura  listed other increases as follows: unregistered and unauthorized products in the market attracts the fine of N5, 000,000; late renewal now attracts a fine for N156, 250 while production without chief baker now attracts the fine of N200, 000 from N50,000.

Musa enjoined bakers to be more watchful of their actions and to give their staffs proper training that would ensure that they were abreast of new developments in the industry.

He said that hygiene practices were key to the bakeries and bakers, adding that if bakers fail to adhere to hygiene rules and regulations, more bakeries would be fined and shut down by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for defaulting of hygiene practices.

He advised bakers to be conscious when buying preservatives from the open markets, so as to avoid buying fake ones and to keep records of their production so as to help them track what they produce and what they sell, while urging them to adopt the use of modalities of excel format that would have pages for their customers and improve their record keeping.

The Chairman of Master Bakers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Ishaq Abdulraheem said that the prices of bread and other wheat flour products might soon go up if the hike in price of the production ingredients across the country were not mitigated.

 He said  the increasing prices of complimentary ingredients for baking bread and other confectionaries pose serious challenges to continued smooth production saying that  ‘’ the  butter of 15kg I bought last week for 7000 naira has gone up to 7500 naira this week.  I kept wondering what happened between last week and now.’’

Abdulraheem who accused retailers of being responsible for the increase in the price of the ingredients “without consideration to producers like us” stressed that Government should not be held responsible for these sharp practices.

The General Manager of the Crown Flour Mills, Mr. Joseph Odeh also advised bakers to ensure that hygiene during production, most especially now that we have the Covid-19 in the country”, adding that bakers needed to work toward the safety of their customers across the country.”