WE CANNOT HELP but feel disconsolate for the poor man and woman who each broke bread earlier this week only to find, in one case, a smelly animal tooth and, in the other, a rising piece of plastic that resembled a lurking, brazen Geico lizard.
Understandably, the 63-year-old Ralph Riley was not amused having his molars suddenly chomping on a foreign fang, as he partook of this salt bread from his pack of six. He was even angrier with the alleged bakers of the bread, Nicholls Bakery, and the officer at the Eunice Gibson Polyclinic in Warrens – where he was sent by the Barbados National Standards Institution – who suggested he “go through” things before eating them.
The caution of literally breaking up bread before consuming it may have its merit, but the flour mix is hardly reconstructable thereafter for cheese cutters, chicken sandwiches, and the like.
Nicholls Bakery’s general manager McDonald Nicholls pointed out he could not verify this tooth had come from his bread, as an obviously agitated Mr Riley had brought the former and not the latter. Mr Nicholls argued reasonably: “If he had brought the bread with him, and I could see where there’s a trace of the tooth in it, I would accept liability.”
Nonetheless, though not being presented the proof he was looking for, the bakery boss could have offered poor Mr Riley another pack – or two – of bread as the proverbial olive branch. It would have been much less costly than losing a customer of “many years”.
It was even more disconcerting for the woman surprised by the green lizard-looking piece of plastic in her loaf of bread. She was introduced to no baker to whom she might complain.
The two young boys from whom she made the purchase in her district would only inform her the bread had come “from down the road” – when she enquired of the baking source. There seemed to be no remorse – just expressed shock – from this duo of vendors to whom the evidence was presented.
The middle-aged mother, who preferred not to be named, fortunately got her money back; but she swore never again to buy from this duo any more of that bread sold in bags with no name, address or telephone number of the baker.
Truth be told, stumbling upon foreign objects is no way to have one’s appetite whetted – particularly in an environment where, traditionally, food safety has been a top priority. Indeed, this kind of thing is far from common in Barbados. No Bajan looks forward to finding some gross
foreign body in his daily bread!
And so when the rare occasion arises, our bakers and vendors need to be more sensitive towards victims who are understandably agitated and ruffled. After all, our bread packages never read: Bajan Salt Bread Made With Pride And Tooth, or Bajan Bread – With Plastic, or Bajan Bread In Lizard Loop!
And, we need not have the matter end up unnecessarily in court, the process of which, from beginning to end, could take a good a few months, do we?