Spectrophotometric determination of bromate in breads using promethazine

The levels of bromate in twenty bread samples obtained from some locations in Katsina metropolis were determined using spectrophotometric method. It was based on the redox reaction between bromate and promethazine in an acidic medium. This reaction produced a red-pink product with maximum absorption at 515nm.Prior to the quantitative determination; a qualitative test was carried out on a portion of each bread sample using 2cm3 of 0.01M promethazine and 0.6cm3 of 12M hydrochloric acid. The change in colour observed in each bread sample indicates the presence of bromate. The results obtained show bromate levels which ranged between 2.18 to 8.25μg/g in bread samples. Bromate levels in all the samples examined were found to exceed the recommended permissible level by US Food and Drug Agency and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control of 0.02μg/g. All bread samples examined were considered unsafe for human consumption. Bread bakers should explore other alternative means of flour improvers instead of using bromate because of its deleterious and carcinogenic effect in humans.