Bakers Cautioned Against The Use Of Potassium Bromate

Koforidua Bakers who use potassium bromate as a flour improver risk causing an explosion when they used such chemical in flour already mixed with ascorbic acid. The Reverend Dr E.K. Marfo, Executive Director of the Ghana Standard Board (GSB), gave the warning at a baker's workshop on the "use of Ascorbic Acid as flour additive" at Koforidua. He said with effect from June one, this year, potassium bromate will be added to the list of restricted chemicals in the country and warned that anybody wishing to import potassium bromate will require a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency. Dr Marfo said it will be an offence for any flour mill in the country to use the chemical as a flour additive and anybody found guilty faces a fine of 500,000 cedis or in default six months' imprisonment or both. He said GSB has set up a monitoring team to obtain samples of flour from the factories and the market and also collect bread samples from the markets to test for the presence of potassium bromate.