Is Uganda bread safe?
May 22, 2007
Most bread made in Uganda has a chemical that has the potential of causing cancer.
By Halima Shaban
Most bread made in Uganda has a chemical that has the potential of causing cancer.
Some bakeries use potassium bromate as an additive to stabilise dough and prevent it from splitting into uneven texture that makes the bread difficult to slice. However, bromate is considered to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing), according to the statement from Food and Beverages Development Association of Uganda.
Food additives are nutritional and non-nutritional chemical substances which are added to food to assist in food processing and preservation or to improve the flavour, texture, appearance, nutrition or storage properties. Examples include food colours, emulsifiers, flavouring agents, preservatives and sweeteners.
Geofrey Kabuye an officer at Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), confirmed that bromide (potassium bromate) was banned under the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation.
“In Uganda, potassium bromate is still used as an additive which, during oxidation, is broken down into bromide.â€
“We have not yet come out publicly about the dangers of using this food additive since we do not have the statutory instruments to ban its use,†Kabuye said.
He said UNBS had asked the ministry to ban bromide because it has been declared carcinogenic (causing cancer) and it is not listed on the WHO recommended food additives.
Dr. Friday Agaba of the Ministry of Health agrees that the ministry is yet to ban potassium bromate.
Michael Bamuwamye, a food scientist, says carcinogenic substances are those which, when broken down, leave unpaired electrodes that attack (eat up) body cells causing cancer. “Any thing labelled carcinogenic should be banned.â€
A survey in 10 bakeries in Kampala revealed that most production managers have no idea about the use of potassium bromate, bromide or any brand that contains the two chemicals.
“Apparently we do not use improvers here. The flour we use comes ready for bread making. The only thing we add is calcium as a preservative,†one of them said.
He opined that potassium bromate may be added at the millers.
“It is the people who make the flour who add the needed quantities of improvers.â€
However, some bakers had an idea. At Vasili’s Bakery, John Nyangasi said potassium bromate was banned in South Africa and since Vasili’s is part of the South African food chain Nandos, they do not use it.
Bbosa Lumu, the pastry chef, at Hotel Africana, says: “We use Best Bread Improver (BBI) which contains ascorbic acid and vitamin C.â€
Bamuwamye, however, said bromate, used in the right quantities, is not dangerous.
“In food science, we know that a number of factors in food influence the development of a cancer: The amount a person takes in, the environmental factors, the person’s genetic factors and the level of sensitivity to bromide.â€
He said many foods have a natural content of bromine in the range of 1-10mg/kg and some foods even contain considerably more.
“Wheat flour itself has a natural bromine content of about 2.4 - 7.7mg/kg. The acceptable daily intake for man of inorganic bromide is 0 - 1.0mg/kg of body weight and minimum effective doze in the human adult may be about 10mg/kg body weight per day,†Bamuwamye says
Steven Nyanzi, the head of Makerere University’s chemistry department, says as a general rule, bromate should not be in foods, but low levels may not be harmful.
“At levels of flour treatment of up to 62.5mg/kg no bromate residues will be detected in bread. It is only after levels of 75mg/kg or higher that detectable residues of bromate and bromide can be found in bread.
“Bromide, arising from flour treatment with bromate, within the acceptable levels of treatment, may not be dangerous.â€
Bamuwamye says one cannot physically tell that a piece of bread contains bromide because it is not considered by bakers as one of the ingredients. But safer alternatives on the market include Power Baker 203, Ascorbic Acid, Alphamalt A 6003 and Phamalot Improvers.
A study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer says since additives are not natural nutrition for human, they may lead to negative health effects, especially for children, pregnant mothers, Persons Living with HIV/AIDS and the elderly.
“Children are suffering the most from food additives because they are exposed to food chemicals from infancy,†Bamuwamye says.
Potassium bromate is sometimes used in the production of fish paste and fermented beverages. But in some cases, the manufacturing technology leaves little or no residual bromate in the end product.
Most bread made in Uganda has a chemical that has the potential of causing cancer.
Some bakeries use potassium bromate as an additive to stabilise dough and prevent it from splitting into uneven texture that makes the bread difficult to slice. However, bromate is considered to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing), according to the statement from Food and Beverages Development Association of Uganda.
Food additives are nutritional and non-nutritional chemical substances which are added to food to assist in food processing and preservation or to improve the flavour, texture, appearance, nutrition or storage properties. Examples include food colours, emulsifiers, flavouring agents, preservatives and sweeteners.
Geofrey Kabuye an officer at Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), confirmed that bromide (potassium bromate) was banned under the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation.
“In Uganda, potassium bromate is still used as an additive which, during oxidation, is broken down into bromide.â€
“We have not yet come out publicly about the dangers of using this food additive since we do not have the statutory instruments to ban its use,†Kabuye said.
He said UNBS had asked the ministry to ban bromide because it has been declared carcinogenic (causing cancer) and it is not listed on the WHO recommended food additives.
Dr. Friday Agaba of the Ministry of Health agrees that the ministry is yet to ban potassium bromate.
Michael Bamuwamye, a food scientist, says carcinogenic substances are those which, when broken down, leave unpaired electrodes that attack (eat up) body cells causing cancer. “Any thing labelled carcinogenic should be banned.â€
A survey in 10 bakeries in Kampala revealed that most production managers have no idea about the use of potassium bromate, bromide or any brand that contains the two chemicals.
“Apparently we do not use improvers here. The flour we use comes ready for bread making. The only thing we add is calcium as a preservative,†one of them said.
He opined that potassium bromate may be added at the millers.
“It is the people who make the flour who add the needed quantities of improvers.â€
However, some bakers had an idea. At Vasili’s Bakery, John Nyangasi said potassium bromate was banned in South Africa and since Vasili’s is part of the South African food chain Nandos, they do not use it.
Bbosa Lumu, the pastry chef, at Hotel Africana, says: “We use Best Bread Improver (BBI) which contains ascorbic acid and vitamin C.â€
Bamuwamye, however, said bromate, used in the right quantities, is not dangerous.
“In food science, we know that a number of factors in food influence the development of a cancer: The amount a person takes in, the environmental factors, the person’s genetic factors and the level of sensitivity to bromide.â€
He said many foods have a natural content of bromine in the range of 1-10mg/kg and some foods even contain considerably more.
“Wheat flour itself has a natural bromine content of about 2.4 - 7.7mg/kg. The acceptable daily intake for man of inorganic bromide is 0 - 1.0mg/kg of body weight and minimum effective doze in the human adult may be about 10mg/kg body weight per day,†Bamuwamye says
Steven Nyanzi, the head of Makerere University’s chemistry department, says as a general rule, bromate should not be in foods, but low levels may not be harmful.
“At levels of flour treatment of up to 62.5mg/kg no bromate residues will be detected in bread. It is only after levels of 75mg/kg or higher that detectable residues of bromate and bromide can be found in bread.
“Bromide, arising from flour treatment with bromate, within the acceptable levels of treatment, may not be dangerous.â€
Bamuwamye says one cannot physically tell that a piece of bread contains bromide because it is not considered by bakers as one of the ingredients. But safer alternatives on the market include Power Baker 203, Ascorbic Acid, Alphamalt A 6003 and Phamalot Improvers.
A study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer says since additives are not natural nutrition for human, they may lead to negative health effects, especially for children, pregnant mothers, Persons Living with HIV/AIDS and the elderly.
“Children are suffering the most from food additives because they are exposed to food chemicals from infancy,†Bamuwamye says.
Potassium bromate is sometimes used in the production of fish paste and fermented beverages. But in some cases, the manufacturing technology leaves little or no residual bromate in the end product.