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link, not paywalled)
Change New York Bagels and Pizza?
Bromated flour, which makes breads and crusts stretchy and springy (and cheap), is among the carcinogens forbidden in pending state legislation.***
The recipe for
Utopia Bagels has remained unchanged since the popular bakery opened in Queens in 1981.
Louie and Ernie’s Pizza in the Bronx has used the same ingredients in its slice for nearly as long.
But if lawmakers in Albany prevail, these bakers and thousands of others in New York State will have to stop using a key component, bromated flour, potentially raising costs and changing the character of their breads, bagels and pizza crusts.
But since the 1980s, when studies first linked potassium bromate to thyroid and kidney cancers in rats, it has gradually been
removed from the food supply in most of the world. It’s banned in China, Canada, India, the European Union and many other countries. Starting next January, it will be illegal in California, as part of the so-called “
Skittles ban” signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023. Last month by a wide margin, legislators passed the Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act, which bans potassium bromate (along with propylparaben and Red Dye No. 3) from any food sold in the state. The bill now goes to Gov. Kathy Hochul; a spokeswoman said only that the governor “will review” it.***
Frank Scavio, a Brooklyn native who co-owns five
Paesan’s Pizza shops in the Albany area, has mounted a campaign to carve out an exception for bromated flour.
“If we’re we going to change something New York is famous for, we should be sure there’s a good reason for it,” he said, pointing out that the carbonized flour in a well-charred pizza crust and the alcohol in vodka sauce can also be considered carcinogenic.
