Actually, potassium bromate is a carcinogen (it can cause cancer in some individuals). For years potassium bromate was thought to be completely converted to bromide (not a carcinogen) during baking, but new detection procedures revealed that there was still some residual bromate even after baking. This resulted in the banning of bromate in much of the world. Here in the U.S. bromate containing foods must carry a special health warning when sold in California, but it is not banned. Due to the consumer concerns over bromate many food companies have opted to eliminate it from their product formulations, plus it makes selling products in California easier as special labeling is not required when bromate isnāt present. Additionally, bromate is not allowed in Canada, so it also makes it easier to ship foods to Canada when bromate isnāt an issue, otherwise, companies would need two different formulas for products, one possibly with bromate for sale in the U.S. and one for export to Canada, without bromate. So it is just a lot easier to formulate products without the bromate and not have to worry about two different formulations and all the problems that come with it.
Some bakers still insist upon using bromate, and for that reason it is still available to them. This is why you can buy flour, such as General Mills, All Trumps both bromated and un-bromated. You decide what you want to use, and your customer decides what they want to buy/eat.
As for Celiac Disease and gluten intolerance, thatās a whole different story, it has nothing to do with any āadditivesā.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor