One of Wooden Bakery's bakeries in Baabda. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
The State Security Department has announced the seizure of almost 110 tons of tainted flour in Zahle (Bekaa) belonging to a bakery in the town, reports L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent in the Bekaa.
The seized flour did not meet the required standards but continued to be used to make products sold to customers, prompting the security services to close the warehouses where the flour was stored, following authorization from Bekaa Attorney General Mounif Barakat.
According to information circulating on social networks, the company in question is the Lebanese bakery and patisserie chain Wooden Bakery, which has several franchises in the country. When contacted, an anonymous source within Wooden Bakery's management confirmed the information, specifying that the factory in Zahle was only one of those it operates in Lebanon and that it “had not been used for a long time.” The company undertook to get back to us for further details, but warned that “the investigation will determine everything there is to know.”
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.