Flour treatment agent
Also known as: Bromic acid, potassium salt, Potassium bromate(VII), Bromated flour (when added to flour), KBrO3, E924 (former EU number), CAS 7758-01-2
Potassium bromate is an inorganic oxidizing salt used as a flour treatment agent and dough conditioner to strengthen gluten and increase loaf volume in bread, rolls, and buns. It is still permitted in the United States but is banned or not authorized as a food additive in the EU, UK, Canada, and Brazil, and carries a cancer warning under California Proposition 65.
Potassium bromate (CAS 7758-01-2) is Listed as causing: Cancer. Date listed: January 1, 1990. Listing mechanism: Authoritative Bodies-International Agency for Research on Cancer.
California's OEHHA lists potassium bromate under Proposition 65 as a chemical known to the state to cause cancer, effective January 1, 1990.
Potassium bromate is possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B). There is inadequate evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of potassium bromate. There is sufficient evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of potassium bromate.
The WHO's cancer agency (IARC) classifies potassium bromate as a possible human carcinogen (Group 2B), based on sufficient evidence of cancer in lab animals.
Toxicity and carcinogenicity of potassium bromate -- a new renal carcinogen. KBrO3 is a complete carcinogen, possessing both initiating and promoting activities for rat renal tumorigenesis, inducing renal cell tumors, mesotheliomas of the peritoneum, and follicular cell tumors of the thyroid; active oxygen radicals generated from KBrO3 were implicated in its toxic and carcinogenic effects.
A peer-reviewed review in Environmental Health Perspectives concludes potassium bromate is a complete renal carcinogen in rats, inducing kidney, peritoneal, and thyroid tumors via oxidative (free-radical) DNA damage.
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