Competition Authority orders bakers to disclose full information on bread packaging

The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has ordered bread manufacturers to disclose full information concerning the product with effect from Monday, May 24. 

In a statement, the Authority’s Director-General Wang’ombe Kariuki ordered all the manufacturers of bread to correctly indicate the expiry date on the packaging and clearly specify the vitamins and minerals used in the fortification of their product.

He also ordered the manufacturers to print the day and month the product was manufactured on the wrapper.

“Manufacturers failed to provide the weight of their bread products and ingredients, while others marketed their bread as fortified but did not specify the alleged nutrients or vitamins used,” Wang’ombe noted.

The orders came by as a result of the Authority’s just-concluded probe targeting bread manufacturers in Kenya.

According to the authority, the findings of their investigations did not establish any consumer who was harmed due to past contraventions.

The authority went on to say that “manufacturers have no latitude to select which laws to adhere to,” adding that “consumers have absolute rights to full and accurate information about goods or services offered in the markets”.

The authority conducted investigations in response to allegations of underweight bread on the supermarket shelves.

On April 30, two men were arrested in Migori county transporting 50 crates of bread that was allegedly underweight from a bakery in Kisii.

This was a year after The Standard team, through investigations, established that only one in four loaves picked randomly in a supermarket met the required weight.