Potassium bromate has been added as an additive to bread flour for nearly a hundred years. It has two functions, one is whitening, and the other is to have a rapid swelling effect on the dough. The consistent feature of flour and bread after using potassium bromate is that the flour is whiter, the bread made has more elasticity and toughness, and the appearance is more beautiful.
There are two ways to add potassium bromate, one is in the flour production process, and the other is in the bread making process. Regular large-scale flour enterprises have strict standards for baking temperature and residual amount of bromate in baked goods. But insiders say that due to different baking techniques of various enterprises, it is difficult to truly regulate the residual amount of potassium bromate in bread.
Japanese and American scientists discovered in experiments many years ago that potassium bromate is a carcinogenic substance, and excessive consumption can damage the central nervous system and kidneys of humans. Cancer research institutions have also classified this compound as a carcinogen. In fact, the World Health Organization recommended a ban on the use of potassium bromate several years ago, and European countries no longer use it. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China and the National Standardization Committee jointly issued a notice on stopping the use of potassium bromate as a flour processing agent (State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine [2005] No. 197): Starting from July 1, 2005, food production and processing enterprises cannot use bromate in the production process. On May 30th, the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China issued Announcement No. 9 of 2005, which abolished the use of potassium bromate as a flour treatment agent in GB2760 "Hygienic Standards for the Use of Food Additives".
On July 1, 2006, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China and the National Standardization Administration of China issued the national standard GB/T 20188-2006 for the determination of bromate in wheat flour by ion chromatography.