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In a bid to ensure that pupils of primary schools across the country consume safe and wholesome bread under the Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) of the Federal Government, Crown Flour Mills and the Association of Master Bakers and Caterer of Nigeria (AMBCN) have collaborated to sensitise bakers on food safety management.
The bakers were sensitised on quality management, procedures of transportation of the bread to the schools and sanitary and hygiene practice when baking the bread by various experts in the country’s food and safety organisations.
“We are partnering AMBCN to ensure that they meet the standard requirement of the school feeding programme and that the quality of bread produced is safe for consumption for the children,” said Anurag Shukla, managing director and CEO, Crown Flour Mills during the sensitisation program.
“We would continue to supply quality flour to bakers and work with them to ensure they produce safe and wholesome bread for the pupils of Lagos state schools,” Shukla said.
He noted that Crown Flour Mills has a monitoring team who will be checking the activities of the bakers to ensure adherence to standards.
He stated that the bakers present at the sensitisation would go back and train other bakers on what was learnt during the one day-programme.
Sunday Onah, deputy director, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) sensitised the bakers on processes and procedures for ensuring quality and standards.
Onah said that having quality flour from Crown Flour was not enough to ensure food safety. He advised the bakers to adopt good sanitary and hygiene practice in producing the bread for the school children.
He urged bakers to ensure that consistency and compliance should be their focus in making bread for the children.
On behalf of Lagos State, Bunmi Oteju, director of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Lagos, appreciated Crown Flour and AMBCN for having the sensitisation program for bakers in the state.
She stated that the HGFSP would soon commence in the state and that bread was one of the meals that would be served to pupils, while appealing to bakers to supply bread with quality and high nutrition to the schools.
Oteju noted that the immune system in children was not as high as that of adults; therefore, she urged the participants ensure consistency in the production of safe and wholesome bread for the pupils.
Also speaking during the programme, Omotunde Raji, chairman, AMBCN Lagos, promised that bakers would adhere to standards in producing the bread that would be supplied to schools across the state.
“We will meet the expectation of the Lagos State government by supplying quality bread to schools. Bakers in the state will not let down the trust placed on them,” Raji, who is also the brand ambassador for Mama Gold, said.
Josephine Okojie
