Bread is the cheapest and basic instant food available for consumption. Though bread is not a staple food in India, its consumption has increased over the years. In comparison to chapatti, puri or rice bread is still a secondary staple food in India. 1 Bread is prepared from dough of flour and water, usually by baking. It has been popular around the world and is one of the oldest artificial foods, having been of importance since the dawn of agriculture. There are many combinations and proportions of types of flour and other ingredients, and also of different traditional recipes and modes of preparation of bread. As a result, there are wide varieties of types, shapes, sizes, and textures of breads in various regions.

Bread may be leavened by many different processes ranging from the use of naturally occurring microbes to high-pressure artificial aeration methods during preparation or baking. Commercial bread in particular, commonly contains additives, some of them non-nutritional, to improve flavor, texture, color, shelf life, or ease of manufacturing.

Different types of breads are available in India. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has given the standards for following breads:

  • White Bread (IS 1483: 1988)
  • Wheatmeal Bread (IS 1960: 1979)
  • Protein Fortified Bread (IS 8665: 1977)
  • Milk Bread (IS 11231: 1985)

Potassium bromate (KBrO3, E number – E924) is a flour improver that acts as a maturing agent. It is a colourless, odourless and tasteless white crystal/powder. It acts to strengthen the dough and to allow higher rising. It acts principally in the late dough stage giving strength to the dough during the late proofing and early baking. It oxidizes the sulfhydryl or thiol (R-SH) groups of the gluten protein in flour into disulphide bridges and makes it less extensible and more elastic such that it can retain the carbon dioxide gas produced by the yeast. 2,3 The overall result is higher increase in volume and good texture of the finished product that is appealing to the consumer. This property of potassium bromate has been used profitably by bakers.

Potassium bromate is highly soluble in water. It has a melting point of 3500C and it decomposes at 3700C.4,5 Potassium bromate is an oxidizing agent, and under the right conditions will be completely used up in the baking bread.6 Potassium bromate converts into potassium bromide at high temperature during the baking process. However, if too much is added, or if the bread is not baked long enough or not at a high enough temperature, then a residual amount remains in the bread, which may be harmful if consumed.

Potassium bromate is a toxic substance. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has declared it as possibly human carcinogen.7 Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives evaluated the health risk of potassium bromate and concluded that its use as a flour treatment agent is not acceptable.

REGULATIONS FOR POTASSIUM BROMATE/POTASSIUM IODATE

The European Union: Potassium bromate is not included in the list of permitted food additives for bread given in European Parliament and Council Directive No 95/2/EC of 20th February 1995 on food additives other than colors and sweeteners. Thus the European Union does not permit the use of potassium bromate.

Health Canada: Health Canada does not allow potassium bromate in bread as maturing or dough conditioning agent. But it allows the potassium iodate as maturing or dough conditioning agent in bread and unstandardized bakery products.

USA: US Food and Drug Administration allows the use of Potassium Bromate in specific standardized bakery products like bread, rolls, and buns. Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR136.110 allows the use of potassium bromate, calcium bromate, potassium iodate, calcium iodate, calcium peroxide, or any combination of two or more of these if the total quantity, including the potassium bromate in any bromated flour used, is not more than 0.0075 part for each 100 parts by weight of flour used.

India: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) permits use of potassium bromate and/or potassium iodate in bread and bakery products. As per the Food Safety Standards (Food Product Standards and Additives) Regulations, 2011 the limit for maximum level of use of potassium bromate and/or potassium iodate is set at 50 mg/Kg in bread. In flour for bakery potassium bromate is permitted with the maximum level of use at 20 mg/Kg.

Among the bakery products use of potassium iodate as improver is permitted in bread. Potassium bromate has been banned from use in food products in the EU, Canada, Nigeria, Brazil, South Korea, Peru and some other countries. It was banned in Sri Lanka in 2001 and in China in 2005.

HEALTH EFFECTS OF POTASSIUM BROMATE AND POTASSIUM IODATE

Potassium bromate is toxic substance and has various health effects. Many countries across the world have banned the use of potassium bromate as a flour treatment agent. It can cause abdominal pain, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, kidney failure, oligonuria, anuria, deafness, vertigo, and hypotension, depression of the central nervous system, thrombocytopenia with other related health problems. 15 It also affects the nutritional quality of bread by degrading the vitamins and essential fatty acid contents of flour. 16 It degrades vitamins A2, B1, B2, E and niacin which are the main vitamins available in bread.17 Significant differences in essential fatty acid content of flour treated with bromate or in bread made from flour containing bromate have been reported in several studies. 18 International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has found it as a possibly carcinogenic to humans.

Potassium iodate is considered as good source of iodine. In 1965, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives recommended that potassium iodate should not be used as a flour treatment agent due to the possibility of a higher intake of iodine. The committee considered that “the use of a food additive for the treatment of a staple, such as flour, of a substance having such physiological significance and potency as iodine is highly undesirable”. Its use may result in a daily intake of iodine that is five or ten times than the usually recommended level of 100-200 μg. 20 Potassium iodate is not recommended to be used as a flour treatment agent in several parts of the world including UK21, EU22, Australia23 and New Zealand