The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has ordered bread manufacturers to print correct weight and expiry date on wrappers.
The authority issued a statement, noting that it has established unfair and misleading market conduct by the actors as per the findings from investigations targeted at the manufacturers.
From the findings, on the part of the manufacturers, there has been failure to provide manufacturing dates on bread wrappers in the prescribed format with other manufacturers omitting the applicable month in the expiry dates.
The manufacturers have also been indicted for failing to provide the weight of their bread products and ingredients.
Some have failed to specify nutrients or vitamins used while marketing their bread products as fortified and others falsely indicated that their products contained milk or butter thereby misleading consumers.
In the statement issued on Monday, CAK Director General Wang’ombe Kariuki said, “These actions amount to making false and misleading representations to consumers of goods and services and are in contravention of sections of the Competition Act. Further, the bread manufacturers, were not adhering to product information standards as prescribed by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS).”
“Manufacturers have no latitude to elect which laws to adhere to,” Kariuki added.
CAK has therefore asked the bread manufacturers to take remedial measures including compliance with requirements such as providing a list of ingredients and the net weight of products in grams.
The day and month the product was manufactured should be legibly printed on the wrapper and the expiry date of the bread should be correctly indicated by adjusting the information on the wrappers to ‘Best Before’ instead of ‘Sell By’.
In a bid to establish compliance with all the directives, CAK is expected to continuously undertake spot checks.
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