Lost slices? Govt goes for crafty bakers who sell underweight bread

By , K24 Digital
On Mon, 24 May, 2021 12:38 | 2 mins read
Underweight bread
PHOTO/courtesy.

The Competition Authority of Kenya has gone for devious business persons who manufacture, package and sell underweight bread.

In the new move aimed at protecting consumers from unfair and misleading market conduct, CAK ordered bakers to print weight, expiry date and fortification ingredients on wrappers after an investigation found that some bakers mislead consumers.  

“The Authority, pursuant to its consumer protection mandate, has finalized investigations targeting bread manufacturers in Kenya and issued orders against those found not to have adhered to provisions of the Competition Act and other relevant Standards,” CAK said in a Monday, May 24 statement.

CAK’s announcement comes after police impounded over 50 crates of underweight loaves of bread in a Lorry from a Kisii based baker. 

The consignment from Tanzi Bakery was intercepted at Migori town and upon a random weight test by Migori County weights and measures officers, 770 loaves of bread were found to be underweight.

The loaves had an average of 365 grams instead of 400 grams,” Tobias Nyakamo, the County weights and measures officer said. 

The driver of the lorry and a salesman were taken to a police station in Migori for questioning.

In its statement, CAK revealed that manufacturers failed to provide the manufacturing date/month on their bread wrappers in the prescribed format while others were printing them illegibly on the seals. In other cases, CAK said manufacturers omitted the applicable month in the expiry dates.

“The manufacturers failed to provide the weight of their bread products and ingredients while others marked their bread as fortified but did not specify the alleged nutrients/vitamins used. Some brands misled consumers that their products contained milk or butter whereas they did not,” CAK said.

To ensure consumers are protected, CAK Director General Wang’ombe Kariuki said the orders issued were to be enforced immediately and that the Authority would conduct random spot checks to get hold of defaulters.