Flour bleaching / dough conditioner
Also known as: ADA, Azodicarbonamid, 1,1'-azobis(formamide), azobisformamide, azodicarboxamide, ADC, E927a
Azodicarbonamide (ADA) is a synthetic chemical used in the United States as a flour bleaching/aging agent and dough conditioner in bread, and industrially as a blowing agent to make foamed plastics and rubber (the source of its "yoga mat chemical" nickname). It is permitted in U.S. food at low levels but is not authorized as a food additive in the European Union or Australia.
Weight of evidence suggests that azodicarbonamide can induce asthma in a significant proportion of exposed people, and azodicarbonamide should be considered as a human skin sensitizer.
WHO's chemical-safety assessment finds azodicarbonamide can induce occupational asthma and is a human skin sensitizer in exposed workers.
The FDA is planning to revisit its approval of the food additive ADA (azodicarbonamide), which it previously approved to whiten cereal flour and improve baking bread dough; ADA is nicknamed the 'yoga mat chemical' and remains banned in Europe due to concerns that the chemical can create a potential carcinogen called semicarbazide during bread production.
FDA announced it is reassessing its approval of azodicarbonamide (the 'yoga mat chemical'); the additive is already banned in Europe over a semicarbazide carcinogen concern.
Azodicarbonamide may be used as an aging and bleaching ingredient in cereal flour 'in an amount not to exceed 2.05 grams per 100 pounds of flour (0.0045 percent; 45 parts per million),' and as a dough conditioner in bread baking 'in a total amount not to exceed 0.0045 percent (45 parts per million) by weight of the flour used.'
U.S. federal regulation (21 CFR 172.806) caps azodicarbonamide in cereal flour and bread dough at 45 parts per million.
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