Jose Aguayo, Database Analyst, and Nneka Leiba, Deputy Director of Research

Potassium Bromate

Was your bread baked with flour containing a possible cancer-causing additive?

Few foods evoke an image of wholesomeness like fresh-baked bread. But the flour used in many commercial baked goods may include an additive that’s been linked to cancer.

The additive is called potassium bromate, which is added to flour to strengthen the dough, allow it to rise higher and give the finished bread an appealing white color.1

EWG's Food Scores, an online tool to help consumers eat healthier, lists potassium bromate as an ingredient in at least 86 baked goods and other food products* found on supermarket shelves, including well-known brands and products such as Hormel Foods breakfast sandwiches, Weis Kaiser rolls and French toast, and Goya turnover pastry dough.

Regulators in the United States and abroad have reached troubling conclusions about the risks of potassium bromate that you probably don’t know about, but should. In 1999 the International Agency for Research on Cancer determined that potassium bromate is a possible human carcinogen. 6 It is not allowed for use or is banned as a food additive in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and the European Union.2,3,4,5 The state of California requires food with potassium bromate to carry a warning label.

In tests on lab animals, exposure to potassium bromate increased the incidence of both benign and malignant tumors in the thyroid and peritoneum – the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity.7 Later research confirmed and expanded these findings, concluding that ingesting potassium bromate resulted in significant increases in cancer of the animals' kidneys, thyroid and other organs.8

Potassium bromate also has the potential to disrupt the genetic material within cells.9 Upon entering the body, potassium bromate can be transformed into molecules called oxides and radicals.10 These highly reactive molecules can damage DNA and may play a role in the development of cancer. Scientists have observed such damage in human liver and intestine cells, where exposure to potassium bromate resulted in breaks in DNA strands and chromosomal damage.11

Researchers also saw significant damage to the cell membranes of lysosomes – the small intracellular bodies responsible for important cell functions such as cellular digestion – ironically, the process by which food is broken down into components useful to our cells. Models of the relationship between DNA damage and potassium bromate show a consistent low-dose linear response, which means that the amount of DNA damage observed is proportional to the amount of potassium bromate consumed.12

Despite the significant evidence of potassium bromate’s harmful health effects, the food industry has long argued that it is of no concern in baked products.13 The industry claims potassium bromate is theoretically fully converted into potassium bromide, a similar yet non-carcinogenic chemical, during baking. But testing in the United Kingdom revealed that potassium bromate remains detectable after baking, with six out of six unwrapped breads and seven out of 22 packaged breads containing measurable levels.14

California is the only state to have taken any measures to warn residents of the dangers associated with this chemical, placing potassium bromate on its Proposition 65 list,13 which means that products that contain it must carry a cancer warning on their labels. However, no other regulatory agency has taken any action to regulate or remove this dangerous chemical from American grocery store shelves. Our nation’s food additive review system fails in its mandate to keep Americans safe. Congress must overhaul this broken process in order to truly protect us from potentially cancer-causing chemicals such as potassium bromate.

In light of the evidence that suggests potassium bromate has the potential to be genotoxic and carcinogenic, and the decisions by numerous regulatory authorities based on this evidence, EWG recommends a precautionary approach to consumers: You should avoid food products that contain this chemical. Manufacturers should look to safer alternative methods and ingredients to produce their baked goods.

How can you avoid it?

Check the list and use EWG's Food Scores database and companion app to find foods without potassium bromate.

Products with potassium bromate (as of 9/16/2015)*

Amello's Italian Style Raspberry Drop Cookies

Amon's Kosher Deep Dish Pizza

Busken, Tea Cookies

Canadian Home Style Pizza Cheesy Veggie

Canadian Home Style Pizza Fluffy & Cripsy

Caribbean Food Delights Mild Beef Patties

Chopsie's Pizza Rolls

Dockside Classic Crab & Cheese Bites

Dockside Classics Crab Cakes

Dockside Classics Lobster Cakes

Fresh Daily Easter Bun

Fresh Daily Inc. Spice Fruit Bun

Fresh Daily Nutmeg Bread

Fresh Daily Round Spice Bun

Fried Garlic Sticks

Fried Sticks Palitos Lemon

Galletas Paloma Castilla Crackers

Giovanni's Kaiser Italian Rolls

Golden Krust Fresh Traditional Style Whole

Golden Krust Hard Dough Bread

Golden Krust Jamaican Style Chicken Patties

Golden Krust Spice Bun

Goya Dough For Turnover Pastries

Harrington's Amish Style Handmade Egg Noodles (2)

Home Like Hard Rolls

Hormel Bacon Egg & Cheese in Deli Bagel

Hormel Black Label Breakfast Sandwiches

Imperial Garden Pork Egg Rolls

J.T.M Chicken Philly Cheese Steak Kit 4 Complete Sandiwiches

J.T.M Meatball Sub Kit

J2 Broadway's Gourmet Pizza

La Bayamesa Corn Muffins

La Bayamesa Pineapple Filled Pastry

La Fe Chicken Croquettes

La Fe Tropical Crackers

La Gustosa Tortelli With Cheese

La Rosa's Hoagy Rolls

Larosa's Meatballs

Lemon Spicy Sticks

Longo's Pizza Crusts

Longo's Sicilian Pizza Crust

Lucca's Italian Rolls

Mary's Bakery Guava Bread

Mary's Bakery Sweet Bread

Minardi Round Bread

Minardi's French Mini Bread

Murry's French Toast Bites Cinnamon Blast

New York Flatbread Everything

New York Flatbread Sesame (2)

New York Flatbreads Garlic (2)

Palagonia 6 Mini Hero's

Palagonia French Bread

Palagonia Italian Bread (2)

Palagonia Panino Italiano

Palagonia Rolls

Palagonia Sliced Heros

Palagonia Sliced Italian Bread

Pao Ge Milho Apple Cake

Pierino Jumbo Shells With Cheese

Pierino Manicotti With Cheese

Racine Bakery Pumpernickel

Racine Bakery Sunflower Rye Bread

Rico Original Discos, Dough For Turnover Pastries

Rico Original Grandes

Royal Caribbean Bakery Hard Dough Bread (2)

Scotto's Gourmet Cookies

Sibstar Bread Farmers

Sibstar Bread White Wheat

Stern's 100% Whole Wheat Bread

Super Cakes Milk Bread

Super Craft Milk Bread

Tastee Choice Chicken Parmigiana and Penne Pasta

Tastee Choice, Orange Chicken

Terranova Bakery Pane Di Casa

Terranova Bakery Plain Friselle

Terranova Bakery Wheat Bread

The Bakery Bacon Mini Pastries Kolacky Cream Cheese

Tony Luke's Chicken Cheesesteak

Tony Luke's Roast Pork Sandwiches

Triana Almond Cake

Triana Pineapple Cake

Tudor Bakery Biscotti Almond

We Are The Finest! Odessa White Bread

Weis Enriched Rolls Kaiser (2)

Weis French Toast Bites Cinnamon

Wheat Bran Bread

About EWG's Food Scores

EWG's Food Scores is an easy-to-use food database and mobile app that will house ratings and a vast array of other information for more than 82,000 foods from about 1,500 brands in a simple, searchable, online format. The new tool is the most comprehensive food-rating database available to consumers. Its scoring system factors in not only nutrition, but also ingredients of concern, such as food additives, and contaminants. It also estimates the degree to which foods have been processed.

EWG's Food Scores aims to guide people to greener, healthier, and cleaner food choices. Users can find an overall score, from 1 (best) to 10 (worst), for every product in the food database. EWG's product profiles include highly detailed information on how each food stacks up in terms of nutritional content and whether they contain questionable additives, such as nitrites or potassium bromate, or harmful contaminants, such as arsenic and mercury, and which foods have the lowest and highest processing concerns. They also identify meat and dairy products that are likely produced with antibiotics and hormones and highlight the fruits and vegetables that are likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues.

EWG's Food Scores is built on data gathered by LabelINSIGHT®, an independent product label database and analysis platform, which provides details on packaged foods that carry a barcode.

EWG's Food Scores is available as a free mobile app for iPhone and Android users. With the app, consumers are able to scan barcodes of products with their smartphones to get rating information while they are grocery shopping. They are able to compare a product's score to that of similar products, right at their fingertips, and find comparable products with better scores.

References

1. Kujore A & Serret JM. The analysis of potassium bromate in bakery products. Food Engineering & Ingredients. Special Issue June 2010: p 22-24.

2. Legislation.gov.uk. 1990. The Potassium Bromate (Prohibition as a Flour Improver) Regulations 1990. Available from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1990/399/made

3. Environment Canada. 2010. Screening Assessment for the Challenge - Bromic acid, potassium salt (Potassium bromate). Available from: http://www.ec.gc.ca/ese-ees/default.asp?lang=En&n=47CCC26F-1

4. Presidência da República Casa Civil Subchefia para Assuntos Jurídicos. 2001. LEI No 10.273: Dispõe sobre o uso do bromato de potássio na farinha e nos produtos de panificação. Available from: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/Leis/LEIS_2001/L10273.htm

5. Commission of the European Communities. 1992. Reports on the Scientific Committee for Food. Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scf/reports/scf_reports_26.pdf

IARC. 1999. Potassium Bromate – Summary of Data Reported and Evaluation. Vol 73: p. 481 Available from: http://www.inchem.org/documents/iarc/vol73/73-17.html

7. Kurokawa Y, Aoki S, Matsushima Y, et al. 1986. Dose-response studies on the carcinogenicity of potassium bromate in F344 rats after long-term oral administration. J Natl Cancer Inst. 77(4): 977-82.

8. DeAngelo AB, George MH, Kilburn SR, et al. 1998. Carcinogenicity of potassium bromate administered in the drinking water to male B6C3F1 mice and F344/N rats. Toxicol Pathol. 26(5): 587-94.

9. US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2001. TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW OF BROMATE. Available from: http://www.epa.gov/iris/toxreviews/1002tr.pdf

10. Geter DR, Ward WO, Knapp GW. 2006. Kidney Toxicogenomics of Chronic Potassium Bromate Exposure in F344 Male Rats. Transl Oncogenomics. 1: 33–52.

11. Zhang Y, Jiang L, Jiang L, et al. 2011. Possible involvement of oxidative stress in potassium bromate-induced genotoxicity in human HepG2 cells. Chem Biol Interact. 189(3): 186-91.

12. Spassova MA, Miller DJ, Eastmond DA, et al. 2013. Dose-response analysis of bromate-induced DNA damage and mutagenicity is consistent with low-dose linear, nonthreshold processes. Environ Mol Mutagen. 54(1): 19-35.

13. American Bakers Association (ABA) & ABI International. 2008. COMMERCIAL BAKING INDUSTRY GUIDE FOR THE SAFE USE OF POTASSIUM BROMATE. Available from: http://www.academia.edu/7487234/Commercial_Baking_Industry_Guide_for_the_Safe_Use_of_Potassium_Bromate

14. Dennis MJ, Burrell A, Mathieson K, et al. 1994. The determination of the flour improver potassium bromate in bread by gas chromatographic and ICP-MS methods. Food Addit Contam. 11(6): 633-9.

15. Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). 2001. BROMATE MEETS THE CRITERIA FOR LISTING AS CAUSING CANCER VIA THE AUTHORITATIVE BODIES MECHANISM PACKAGE. Available from: http://www.oehha.ca.gov/prop65/CRNR_notices/admin_listing/intent_to_list/noilbromate.html