Some 100 persons representing 3,000 workers under the umbrella National Chefs, Bakers and Allied Workers Union of Liberia are up in arms against the sale of illicit flour on the local market.

The group recently queued at the Capitol Building with placards seeking intervention by lawmakers to save lives by preventing sale of the banned flour that goes along with Potassium Bromate tablets (chemical named Benchmate Brand PAR-BR 60), a substance that is poisonous for human consumption.

The union members claimed because the product is added to flour dough to make it over rise, some bakers use it to increase the production of their bakery for profiteering.

When contacted, the group’s spokesman, Amos T. Tengbeh informed New Democrat that their investigation revealed that some importers continue to order the flour along with the potassium bromate addictive though the Ministry of Commerce banned the product here in 2009.

He threatened that bakery union members would stage a hunger strike until the national legislature can cite the commerce ministry to show cause why the tablets are found on the local market after the government banned the substance in 2009.

He said their complaint to Deputy Minister of Commerce Charles Nelson against continued importation of the banned flour has received no redress.

“Again, we wrote Commerce minister Miatta Besysolow to investigate importers about resurfacing of the illicit substance, but there was no redress. So, we have decided to come to the 53rd legislature to intervention for us in the baking industry,” Mr. Tengbeh cried.

Sen. Abel Massaley, chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce, promised the aggrieved bakers that their complaint would be investigated.

When contacted, the director of price analysis and marketing at the Ministry of Commerce, Mr. Steve Flahn-Paye affirmed the ban on potassium bromate tablets in the country, but said the ministry was currently unaware about the presence of the substance on the market since the ban was imposed in 2009.

“We are willing to work with them to locate those who are importing the flour along with the tablets. Let them help us to find those involved. They told us that the flour is brought through the Liberia-Guinea border and somewhere into the country,” Mr. Flahn-Paye told our reporter.