The Food Industry Continues to Process/Produce Foods, Which Can Harm Humans And Even Cause Cancer: The Case of POTASSIUM BROMATE
IT IS QUITE UNFORTUNATE TO MENTION that the food industry still uses POTASSIUM BROMATE as an additive to flour in order to strengthen the dough, allow it to rise higher and give the finished bread an appealing white color.
POTASSIUM BROMATE is found not only in bread, but also in other bakery products. It is very toxic to humans and this is why:
1) POTASSIUM BROMATE can affect you when breathed in and by passing through your skin;
2) POTASSIUM BROMATE should be handled as a CARCINOGEN WITH EXTREME CAUTION;
3) Contact can irritate and burn the skin and eyes;
4) Breathing POTASSIUM BROMATE can irritate the nose, throat and lungs causing coughing, wheezing and/or shortness of breath (causes allergies);
5) Repeated exposure to BROMATE may affect the nervous system causing headache, irritability, impaired thinking and personality changes;
6) POTASSIUM BROMATE may damage the kidneys.
IN 1999 THE INTERNATIONAL AGENCY FOR RESEARCH ON CANCER determined that POTASSIUM BROMATE is a possible human carcinogen. 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. The state of California requires food with POTASSIUM BROMATE to carry a warning label.
Credit: Buzznews
UPON ENTERING THE BODY, POTASSIUM BROMATE CAN BE TRANSFORMED into molecules called oxides and radicals. 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.
Since we do not know whether the bread we buy from supermarket contains POTASSIUM BROMATE, I advise bread lovers to bake their own bread with the use flour that does NOT contain POTASSIUM BROMATE.
………….And One other thing…… …
According to EWG, a non-governmental organisation calling for a stop and total ban of potassium neonate and its products, 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. 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.
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.
Products with potassium bromate (as of 9/16/2015)* – Avoid them
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
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
New York Flatbreads Garlic
Palagonia 6 Mini Hero’s
Palagonia French Bread
Palagonia Italian Bread
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
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.
These are the thoughts of:
Sa’eed Halilu Bawa
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad.
Studied Food and Nutrition Sciences, Dietetics at Kaduna Polytechnic, Nigeria; Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland.
