NAIROBI, Kenya, May 25- The Competition Authority of Kenya has ordered bread manufacturers to share full information regarding the product effective May 24, after it established that the players were misleading the market.
CAK Director-General Wang’ombe Kariuki through a statement said that going forward manufacturers will be required to print the day and the month the product was manufactured on the wrapper, and specify the vitamins and minerals used in the fortification of their bread.
Kariuki also instructed the players to also reveal the expiry date of the product.
“Correctly indicate the expiry date of the bread by adjusting the information on the wrappers to “Best Before” as opposed to “Sell By”,” reads the statement.
CAK says the move serves as the authority’s mandate to enforce the Act with the objective of enhancing the welfare of the people of Kenya by protecting consumers from unfair and misleading market conduct,
The directives come after it finalized investigations targeting bread manufacturers in Kenya, and it established that some manufactures were not providing the manufacturing date/month on their bread wrappers in the prescribed format while others were printing them illegibly on the seals.
In other cases, the manufacturers omitted the applicable month in the expiry date.
Additionally, the 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 used.
“These actions amount to making false and misleading representations to consumers of goods and services and are in contravention of section 55(a)(i) of the Competition Act,” reads CAK’s statement.
“Further, the bread manufacturers were not adhering to product information standards as prescribed by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS). This conduct is contrary to section 60(1) of the Competition Act,” it added.
CAK shall continuously undertake spot checks to establish compliance with all the directives.
