Potassium bromate is a flour additive that Canada banned in 1994, the EU banned in 1990, and IARC classifies as a Group 2B possible carcinogen. The FDA still permits it in US food at up to 75 ppm. You can spot it on bread, bagel, and pizza-dough labels as “bromated flour” or “potassium bromate.” Certified-organic bread is always bromate-free.
Last reviewed: May 24, 2026
New York’s State Senate passed a bill to ban potassium bromate in March 2026, sixty votes to zero. Most New Yorkers had no idea the ingredient was in their food to begin with.
That is the peculiar problem with potassium bromate. Canada banned it in 1994. The EU banned it in 1990. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as a possible carcinogen. And yet it sits quietly on US ingredient labels under the name “bromated flour,” invisible to shoppers who have never been told to look for it.
Here is what the science says, where the two most recent state bans stand, and how to check your bread before you buy it.
What is potassium bromate, and why is it in bread?
Potassium bromate is an oxidizing agent added to flour during commercial bread-making. It strengthens gluten, allows dough to rise higher, and produces a finer, more consistent crumb. Bakers used it for most of the twentieth century because it is cheap and produces consistent results at scale.
The assumption behind its continued US approval is that potassium bromate fully converts to potassium bromide (which is harmless) during baking. The FDA permits it in bread and flour products under 21 CFR 136.110(c)(14) at up to 75 parts per million of flour weight. The agency’s position is that residual bromate in a fully baked loaf is below any level of health concern.
The problem most other countries identified is that “fully baked” is hard to guarantee at industrial scale. Underbaking, recipe variations, and high initial concentrations can all leave residual potassium bromate in the finished product. That uncertainty was enough to prompt bans in dozens of countries while the FDA continued operating under approval granted decades earlier.
Why have more than 40 countries banned it?
The evidence that pushed regulators to act comes primarily from animal studies. IARC reviewed the data in 1999 and classified potassium bromate as Group 2B: “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” based on kidney and thyroid tumor development in rodents. (IARC Monograph Vol. 73)
That classification has not changed since. A 2023 peer-reviewed narrative review tracked countries that have banned the additive and counted more than 40 in total, including the EU (1990), UK (1990, maintained after Brexit), Canada (1994), Brazil, China, India, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Australia, and New Zealand. (PMC9898660)
The EU ban is confirmed by Regulation 1333/2008 Annex II, which is the definitive list of food additives approved for use in the EU. Potassium bromate does not appear on it.
To put the timeline in perspective: Canada banned potassium bromate when Bill Clinton was in his second year of office. It has been off Canadian shelves for over thirty years while remaining on US grocery store shelves throughout that entire period.
The regulatory reasoning across these countries was consistent: the benefit of using bromate as a dough conditioner does not justify the uncertainty about residual levels in commercial baking. Established alternatives exist, including ascorbic acid and azodicarbonamide (itself now under scrutiny in some markets).
Is potassium bromate still legal in the United States? What is changing?
Yes, it remains federally legal. But two states have moved to restrict it, and their combined market size is likely to force national reformulation.
California. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the California Food Safety Act (AB 418) on October 7, 2023. Starting January 1, 2027, it bans potassium bromate (along with brominated vegetable oil, propylparaben, and red dye No. 3) from food manufactured, sold, or distributed in California. (Governor’s signing letter) California is the fifth-largest economy in the world. (CA gov, 2026) A bread brand reformulating for the state will almost certainly reformulate nationally, because maintaining two production lines is not practical for most manufacturers.
New York. In March 2026, the New York State Senate passed bill S1239F/A1556G with a 60-0 unanimous vote. The full State Assembly followed on April 21, 2026, passing it 106-32. As of May 2026, the bill has cleared both chambers and has been delivered to Governor Hochul, who has not yet signed it. (NY Senate bill status) If she signs it, New York becomes the second state to ban potassium bromate and adds direct pressure on federal regulators who have not finalized a federal re-evaluation of the additive. (NY Senate press release)
There is no federal ban on the horizon. The FDA permits potassium bromate as a direct food additive, a separate regulatory category from GRAS (generally recognized as safe) substances, and has not revoked or finalized a re-evaluation of that approval. State-level laws are currently the primary mechanism moving faster than federal rulemaking on this ingredient.
How do you know if your bread contains potassium bromate?
Look for these two terms in the ingredient list:
- “Potassium bromate” listed directly as an additive
- “Bromated flour” which means the flour was treated with it before it arrived at the bakery
Both are legal label declarations under current US rules. The front of the package will not flag it. A loaf marketed as “artisan” or “hearth-baked” can still be made with bromated flour, because those terms have no regulatory definition related to additives.
Check for USDA Organic certification. The USDA National Organic Program uses a whitelist model: only substances explicitly listed in 7 CFR 205.605 may appear in certified-organic processed products. Potassium bromate is not on that list. A product with the USDA Organic seal cannot contain it, which makes certified-organic bread a reliable bromate-free option without checking individual ingredients.
Scan the label before you buy. The NoJunk ingredient scanner flags potassium bromate and bromated flour across thousands of grocery products. You can check any bread, bagel, or pizza-dough product before it goes in your cart. Try NoJunk.
If you want to track ingredient concerns at the meal level (not just in individual products), Yumr scores full meals and surfaces additive flags alongside nutritional balance.
NoJunk scans ingredient lists and flags potassium bromate, bromated flour, and other additives. Free to download on iOS.
Frequently asked questions
Is potassium bromate in all commercial bread?
No. Many large US bread brands have voluntarily reformulated without it, often in anticipation of the California 2027 deadline. It is most common in commercial bagels, pizza dough, sandwich bread, and English muffins from brands that have not yet changed their formulation. The only way to confirm is to check the ingredient list for “potassium bromate” or “bromated flour.” The absence of both terms means the product does not contain it.
What is the difference between potassium bromate and potassium bromide?
Potassium bromate (KBrO3) is the oxidizing additive used in flour. During baking, it is supposed to convert to potassium bromide (KBr), which is harmless. The concern is that underbaking or excess initial concentration can leave residual potassium bromate in the finished bread. IARC evaluated potassium bromate specifically because it is the reactive form that persists when the conversion is incomplete; bromide itself is not the subject of the Group 2B classification.
Why hasn’t the FDA banned potassium bromate if so many other countries have?
The FDA permits potassium bromate as a direct food additive under 21 CFR 136.110(c)(14), a separate regulatory category from GRAS (generally recognized as safe) substances. The agency’s formal position is that a properly baked loaf converts bromate fully to bromide, and that residual levels in commercial products are negligible. Direct food additive approvals carry no mandatory re-review cycle: an additive approved decades ago stays on the market unless a formal petition or regulatory action removes it. California’s AB 418 and the pending New York bill are the most direct current challenges to that inertia.
Does “unbleached flour” mean the bread is also bromate-free?
Not necessarily. Bleaching and bromating are separate processes. A flour can be unbleached but still bromated. To confirm, look for the word “unbromated” on the label, or verify that the ingredient list contains neither “potassium bromate” nor “bromated flour.”
If I live in Canada, does this affect me?
Canada banned potassium bromate from food in 1994 under Health Canada regulations. Products manufactured and sold in Canada should not contain it. However, if you are buying US-imported products, or ordering from a US brand that ships to Canada, check the ingredient label the same way. US labeling rules apply to products made in the US, and those products may still use bromated flour.
Last reviewed: 2026-05-24