Supermarkets: Kiss should have issued earlier warning about contaminated bread

Kiss Baking company should have warned the public sooner about reports of foreign objects being found in some of its bread last weekend.

So said president of the Supermarkets Association Rajiv Diptee, in an interview with Newsday on Monday.

Diptee told Newsday the association had spoken with the management of Kiss Baking Company, and echoed public sentiment that the decision to issue a warning and recall the bread should have been made sooner.

“What we understand was something of a major concern was the reports of finding pieces of glass in the bread. That is a scary thing that could have had serious consequences.”

Diptee said the delay in warning could have severely affected customer confidence. He said Kiss management explained that there were certain protocols

On Sunday Kiss confirmed a batch of bread had been recalled on Saturday after being distributed on Friday. The release came almost a day after word spread on social media that glass from a machine had broken and splinters were found in the bread.

The release from Kiss said there was “no possibility” that there was glass in the bread, but said plastic might have contaminated “a loaf of bread.”

“It is highly unlikely that this occurred but out of an abundance of caution we removed all bread that may have been affected by the piece of plastic,” Kiss said in a release.

The company recalled all its large sliced sandwich loaves, hot dog bread, coconut buns and wholegrain buns.

Supermarkets offered the option to refund the bread once it was bought between Friday – when reports first appeared on social media – and Saturday, when the bread was recalled. People were required to produce their bills when returning the bread to get a refund.

Some customers took to the company’s Facebook page to support it and assure of their loyalty to the brand.

“Mistakes happen sometimes but I’ll continue to be your customer because of the quality I always get,” said one customer.

Another, however, took Kiss to task for the delay in issuing a warning.

“Even if it was in fact plastic people were talking about this since yesterday (Saturday) morning. I would have more respect if you all owned up the same time you were sending out the drivers to recollect the items.”

Newsday tried to speak to managers at Kiss Baking company but has been unsuccessful to date.