Abstract

Bread is a popular food item consumed by humans regardless of class or status in the society. Bread is prepared predominantly of cereal flour. Potassium bromate is an alluring additive as well as an oxidizing agent which can improve bread texture and appearance. However, due to its potential toxicity it is prohibited in many countries, including the EU and Nigeria. Since previous studies have found evidence of persistent potassium bromate use in Nigeria, we wanted to ascertain the present situation in this country and, for comparison, in Finland as an EU member. To this end, 50 bread samples each were collected from bread vendors and supermarkets in Benin city, Edo state, Nigeria and from supermarkets in Helsinki, Finland. Bromate concentration was determined by two spectrophotometric methods, one based on potassium iodide and another on promethazine. In addition, total bromine concentration was analyzed in selected samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The spectrophotometric methods yielded highly congruent data. A total of 62% and 16% of Nigerian and Finnish bread samples, respectively, contained measurable bromate quantities. The concentrations were also much higher in Nigerian breads (up to >1000 µg/g) than the Finnish samples (up to 5.3 µg/g). Similarly, total bromine levels were about 5-fold as high in Nigerian as in Finnish bread samples (p < 0.001). These findings imply that bread consumers in Nigeria are still being exposed to potassium bromate regardless of the legislation banning its use.