Mega supermarket bakery closed over poor hygiene

Mega Standard Supermarket Garden City branch bakery was sealed off for poor hygiene. UNBS Photo 

By Andrew Bagala

Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has closed the bakery of Mega Standard Supermarket in Kampala over failing to meet hygiene standards.

According to UNBS statement issued yesterday, the bakery of Mega Standard Supermarket Garden City branch, which is a high end store, was closed yesterday. This is the second time UNBS team has closed Mega Standard Supermarket bakery in just two weeks.

Photographs taken in the closed bakeries showed a messy floor and black greasy dirt on the cookers.

We were unable to get a comment from Mega Standard general manager Franklin Akankwasa, but last week in an interview he denied that their bakeries are in poor hygiene.
Mr Akankwasa said the only problem was that their bread had not been certified by UNBS as per the laws.

“We have taken our bread to UNBS offices for certification. You know it takes some time for them to issue a certificate. We shall wait for it,” Mr Akankwasa said.
He said last week that the UNBS didn’t represent a true picture of what they found in the bakery at the time of their visit.

“They found when the cleaners were cleaning after work and they took the photographs. The paper boards on the floor, were covering tiles that had just been replaced so that they don’t get damaged,” he said.

The new photographs taken by UNBS officials at another branch show paper boards on the floor, an indication that the workers were avoiding oil covered slippery tiles.

The UNBS officials have been carrying out a crackdown against stores and bakeries that don’t meet national standards since November last year. At least 83 bakeries countrywide have been visited, but only 38 met the standards.

Ms Victoria Namutebi Wamala, the spokesperson for UNBS, said 45 bakeries were sealed off for violation of standards. “[We found] poor hygiene contrary to expected in the standards set. They were baking and selling uncertified bread. Some bakeries were illegally using UNBS Q mark without permission,” Ms Wamala said.

Challenges
Ms Wamala said major supermarkets had challenges of hygiene and having uncertified products.
Lately, many customers have been complaining about some major supermarkets selling expired or rotten products.
Some bakeries were packing confectionary products they make using other companies’ packages to dupe customers that they were buying their preferred brands.

Efforts to speak to other affected businesses were futile.