Explore Coverage

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Another Reason to Eat Organic — No Potassium Bromate in Your Bread

If you are a bread lover, which so many of us are, there is just another reason why you should be eating organic: potassium bromate.

Potassium bromate is an additive used in flour which strengthens the dough and allows it to rise higher. Furthermore, it gives the finished bread an appealing white color.

But, the problem is that this additive is also linked to cancer.

In 1999, the International Agency on Research for Cancer declared that potassium bromate was a possible human carcinogen, which means that it possibly causes cancer.

Here are some other things for you to know about potassium bromate:

– It is not allowed for use or is banned as a food additive in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and the European Union.

– The state of California requires food with potassium bromate to carry a warning label.

– In tests on laboratory animals, exposure to potassium bromate increased the incidence of both benign and malignant tumors in the thyroid and peritoneum.

– Potassium bromate also has the potential to disrupt the genetic material within cells.

To no one surprise, the food industry says that potassium bromate is perfectly safe. It claims that potassium bromate gets converted into potassium bromide, a similar yet non-carcinogenic chemical, during the baking process.

However, testing in the UK has proven that this is not the case and that potassium bromate still remains after the baking process.

WHAT TO DO

There are three concrete steps that you can take.

First, be aware of which conventional brands are using potassium bromate in their products and avoid them.

According to the Environmental Working Group, there are currently at least 86 baked goods and other food products found on supermarket shelves, including well-known brands and products such as Hormel Foods breakfast sandwiches, Weis Kaiser rolls and French toast, and Goya turnover pastry dough.

Amello’s Italian Style Raspberry Drop Cookies
Amon’s Kosher Deep Dish Pizza
Busken, Tea Cookies
Canadian Home Style Pizza Cheesy Veggie
Canadian Home Style Pizza Fluffy & Cripsy
Caribbean Food Delights Mild Beef Patties
Chopsie’s Pizza Rolls
Dockside Classic Crab & Cheese Bites
Dockside Classics Crab Cakes
Dockside Classics Lobster Cakes
Fresh Daily Easter Bun
Fresh Daily Inc. Spice Fruit Bun
Fresh Daily Nutmeg Bread
Fresh Daily Round Spice Bun
Fried Garlic Sticks
Fried Sticks Palitos Lemon
Galletas Paloma Castilla Crackers
Giovanni’s Kaiser Italian Rolls
Golden Krust Fresh Traditional Style Whole
Golden Krust Hard Dough Bread
Golden Krust Jamaican Style Chicken Patties
Golden Krust Spice Bun
Goya Dough For Turnover Pastries
Harrington’s Amish Style Handmade Egg Noodles (2)
Home Like Hard Rolls
Hormel Bacon Egg & Cheese in Deli Bagel
Hormel Black Label Breakfast Sandwiches
Imperial Garden Pork Egg Rolls
J.T.M Chicken Philly Cheese Steak Kit 4 Complete Sandiwiches
J.T.M Meatball Sub Kit
J2 Broadway’s Gourmet Pizza
La Bayamesa Corn Muffins
La Bayamesa Pineapple Filled Pastry
La Fe Chicken Croquettes
La Fe Tropical Crackers
La Gustosa Tortelli With Cheese
La Rosa’s Hoagy Rolls
Larosa’s Meatballs
Lemon Spicy Sticks
Longo’s Pizza Crusts
Longo’s Sicilian Pizza Crust
Lucca’s Italian Rolls
Mary’s Bakery Guava Bread
Mary’s Bakery Sweet Bread
Minardi Round Bread
Minardi’s French Mini Bread
Murry’s French Toast Bites Cinnamon Blast
New York Flatbread Everything
New York Flatbread Sesame (2)
New York Flatbreads Garlic (2)
Palagonia 6 Mini Hero’s
Palagonia French Bread
Palagonia Italian Bread (2)
Palagonia Panino Italiano
Palagonia Rolls
Palagonia Sliced Heros
Palagonia Sliced Italian Bread
Pao Ge Milho Apple Cake
Pierino Jumbo Shells With Cheese
Pierino Manicotti With Cheese
Racine Bakery Pumpernickel
Racine Bakery Sunflower Rye Bread
Rico Original Discos, Dough For Turnover Pastries
Rico Original Grandes
Royal Caribbean Bakery Hard Dough Bread (2)
Scotto’s Gourmet Cookies
Sibstar Bread Farmers
Sibstar Bread White Wheat
Stern’s 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Super Cakes Milk Bread
Super Craft Milk Bread
Tastee Choice Chicken Parmigiana and Penne Pasta
Tastee Choice, Orange Chicken
Terranova Bakery Pane Di Casa
Terranova Bakery Plain Friselle
Terranova Bakery Wheat Bread
The Bakery Bacon Mini Pastries Kolacky Cream Cheese
Tony Luke’s Chicken Cheesesteak
Tony Luke’s Roast Pork Sandwiches
Triana Almond Cake
Triana Pineapple Cake
Tudor Bakery Biscotti Almond
We Are The Finest! Odessa White Bread
Weis Enriched Rolls Kaiser (2)
Weis French Toast Bites Cinnamon
Wheat Bran Bread

Second, sign the Environmental Working Group’s petition, which is demanding that companies immediately stop using potassium bromate in their products.

To sign the e-petition, click HERE.  

Third, make sure that you and your family are purchasing organic bread because potassium bromate is not allowed in organic products.

Here are some great brands to choose from.

One Degree Organic Foods – sprouted, Non-GMO Project verified, veganic

Silver Hills – certified gluten-free, sprouted, Non-GMO Project verified

Dave’s Killer Bread – Non-GMO Project verified

Rudi’s Organic Bakery

Alvarado St. Bakery – sprouted, made with organic grains

Manna – sprouted, yeast-free

Ezekial 4:9 – sprouted, made with organic grains

Please share this post with anyone you know that is still eating conventionally-produced bread. It is vital that they know the truth about this risky ingredient.

A message from Tradin Organic

Why Tradin Organic is Prioritizing Regenerative Organic Farming

At Tradin Organic, we believe that regenerative organic farming is key to growing healthy and nutritious food ingredients — for now and for future generations.

And in Sierra Leone, we have grown the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified cacao.

Learn more.

Go deeper

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

New to Organic? – Start with This Inexpensive Breakfast

One question that I get a lot is “How should a person get started with organic food?” One complaint I hear a lot is that organic food costs too much.

Let me both answer this question and address this complaint with a story.

Last week, Brian, a new friend of mine, came to me for some food-related advice. He wanted to know what he could be doing to eat healthier, as he was “crashing” in the middle of the afternoon. Brian was very concerned that his eating habits were negatively impacting his ability to perform at work, which would impact his ability to make money.

He did not know much about organic and was very concerned about the price. When I started talking about organic food, the first words out of his mouth were “Hey, I don’t make $20,000 per month.”

Brian went on to tell me about the fast-food breakfasts that he had been eating and he didn’t think it was the cause of his problem.

Go deeper Arrow

A message from Tradin Organic

How Tradin Organic is Helping Coconut Farmers in The Philippines

For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.

The company is helping to support local farmers by assisting them with technical support and organic certification, in addition to paying Fairtrade premium on top of the organic premium.

Learn more.

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

Want to Learn More About the Vegan Ketogenic Diet? If So, You’ll Definitely Want This Book

Everywhere you turn these days, you’ll find news and stories about the ketogenic diet.

This low-carb, high-fat, high-protein diet is helping people lose weight and giving them much needed mental clarity.

However, one of the misconceptions of the keto diet is that animal products are an essential component of it. And for people who only eat plant-based, this can be quite disconcerting.

Along with her co-author Nicole Derseweh, my good friend Whitney Lauritsen — also widely known as the EcoVegan Gal — has just come out with a fantastic book called The Vegan Ketogenic Diet Cookbook, and it is a phenomenal resource for people looking to explore this lifestyle.

Not only does it clear up a lot of the confusion about the keto diet requiring the consumption of animal products, but it provides 75 delicious recipes. And when I was sent an early version of the book, I literally read it cover-to-cover in one sitting. I was that impressed by it.

Go deeper Arrow

Living Maxwell

Better Choices

An Illegal Fungicide Found in Conventional Orange Juice – Another Reason to Buy Organic

Stories about the toxicity of our food supply just keep rolling in.

As I wrote about recently, numerous samples of conventional apple juice were found to have unsafe and illegal levels of arsenic. And now orange juice is having its own set of problems.

Coca-Cola, which makes Minute Maid and Simply Orange, reported to the FDA on December 28th that some Brazilian growers of oranges that are used in the company’s juices and those of its competitors had sprayed their trees with carbendazim, a toxic fungicide.

As a result, the FDA temporarily halted all shipments of imported orange juice while it conducts field tests. Products already on supermarket shelves that have “low levels” of carbendazim (80 parts per billion) may still be sold.

Go deeper Arrow
livingmaxwell: a guide to organic food & drink