Florida subpoenas General Mills over a cancer-linked flour additive most of the world has banned

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has opened an investigation into potassium bromate, a dough-strengthening flour additive that the European Union, Canada, China, India and dozens of other countries have banned but that remains legal in American bread, rolls and pizza crust. His office has issued subpoenas to General Mills and its subsidiary Pillsbury, seeking records on what the companies knew about the additive’s health risks, how they marketed bromated products, and whether any of it reached Florida schoolchildren.

"This investigation is about protecting Florida families and providing transparency to our consumers," Uthmeier said. "Floridians have a right to know what is in the food they buy and feed their children." No lawsuits have been filed; the attorney general said his office wants "to learn more information" first, and signaled the probe will widen beyond General Mills and Pillsbury.

What the subpoenas are asking for

Issued under Florida’s consumer-protection statutes, the subpoenas request the identities of the companies’ biggest Florida buyers, any disclosures made to those buyers, internal safety research, and records of any sales to public schools, the detail Uthmeier stressed most. The named products include Gold Medal and Pillsbury bakery flours sold in bulk sacks.

"It is likely still in the food that you, at home, eat," Uthmeier said, warning that the additive may turn up in "food that is being consumed by our children." He added: "We will be starting with General Mills and their subsidiary Pillsbury, and the list will likely go on from there."

What decades of research actually show

The case against potassium bromate rests largely on animal data. In 1999, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency judged potassium bromate a possible human carcinogen after studies produced tumors in rats, mice and hamsters, while finding the human evidence inconclusive. Earlier reviews reported kidney, thyroid and abdominal tumors in rats given high doses, and researchers have separately tied the compound to kidney injury, DNA damage and oxidative stress that can wear down the body’s natural antioxidant defenses.

The food industry has long maintained that baking converts the additive into harmless bromide. British testing, however, detected leftover bromate in every one of six unwrapped loaves and in seven of 22 packaged ones. The Environmental Working Group’s Food Scores database currently flags roughly 675 products that still list potassium bromate or "bromated flour."

A regulatory gap the states are filling

Potassium bromate was patented for baking in 1914 and cleared for use in flour in 1966. The FDA’s promised 1973 safety review was apparently never completed. Federal rules cap how much can be added to flour at about 75 parts per million, but they set no enforceable limit on how much bromate may remain in the finished loaf, and there is no routine federal testing to verify that it burns off during baking.

California will bar the additive in 2027 under a 2023 law, New York has passed a similar ban awaiting the governor’s signature, Utah has removed it from school meals, and more than 20 states have taken up the issue. Even the American Bakers Association pledged in January to phase it out industry-wide by year’s end.

Consumer advocate Rebekah Ricks put the frustration plainly: "Legality should be the baseline … not the gold standard."

Why safer substitutes already exist

Bakeries across Europe and Canada have made bread without bromate for a generation using substitutes such as vitamin C, which suggests the additive was never a necessity, only a shortcut. The episode underscores a system that treats cost and convenience as reason enough to keep a questionable chemical in the food supply while leaving families in the dark. Until federal regulators catch up with the rest of the world, reading the label remains the surest protection for American shoppers.

FAQ

What additive is Florida investigating in General Mills flour?

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is investigating potassium bromate, a dough-strengthening additive that remains legal in U.S. bread, rolls and pizza crust but is banned in the European Union, Canada, China, India and more than 30 other countries.

Why is potassium bromate considered a health concern?

In 1999, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency classified potassium bromate as a possible human carcinogen after animal studies produced tumors in rats, mice and hamsters. Researchers have also linked the compound to kidney injury, DNA damage and oxidative stress, and British testing found residual bromate in unwrapped and packaged loaves.

Which U.S. states are moving to ban potassium bromate?

California will bar the additive in 2027 under a 2023 law, New York has passed a similar ban awaiting the governor’s signature, and Utah has removed it from school meals. More than 20 states have taken up the issue, and the American Bakers Association pledged in January to phase the additive out industry-wide by year’s end.