Bromates in bread

I. By the use of minute quantities of ammonium and calcium salts, and potassium bromate in bread, from 50 to 65 per cent of the usual amount of yeast can be saved. 

Wang, K. Liu, H. Huang, J. Chen, X. Hu, Z. Determination of bromate in bread additives and flours by flow injection analysis. Food Chem. 2000, 70, 509-514. 

Ranum, P. 1992. Potassium Bromate in Bread Baking. Cereal Foods World 37 (3) 261-263. 

Pomeranz, Y. (Ed.) Wheat Chemistry and technology. Volumes I and II. American Association of Ceretil Chemists St. Paul, Minn. 1988 Pomeranz, Y Wheat is unique. American Association of Cereal Chemists St. Paul. Minn. 1989 Rabe, E. Oiganische Sauren in unterschiedUch gefUhrten Broten. Getreide Mehl Brot 34,90 (1980) Raunum, R Potassium bromate in bread making. Cereal Foods World 37, 253 (1992)... 

Ranum P. Potassium bromate in bread baking. Cereal Food World, 37 253-258 (1992). 

In situ densitometry has been the most preferred method for quantitative analysis of substances. The important applications of densitometry in inorganic PLC include the determination of boron in water and soil samples [38], N03 and FefCNfg in molasses [56], Se in food and biological samples [28,30], rare earths in lanthanum, glass, and monazite sand [22], Mg in aluminum alloys [57], metallic complexes in ground water and electroplating waste water [58], and the bromate ion in bread [59]. TLC in combination with in situ fluorometry has been used for the isolation and determination of zirconium in bauxite and almnimun alloys [34]. The chromatographic system was silica gel as the stationary phase and butanol + methanol + HCl -H water -n HF (30 15 30 10 7) as the mobile phase. 

Another interesting TLC method for the isolation and determination of bromate ion in flour dough and breads has been developed [59]. It involves extraction of BrOj from foodstuff, purification on alumina column, TLC separation on silica gel layer developed with water -1- -butanol + n-propanol (1 1 3), and quantification by densitometry. Bromate ion down to 0.1 pg in bread (1.0 g) was detected with tohdin-FIQ reagent. 

After 1990 the British government changed the law to remove potassium bromate from bread. This move was logical in the circumstances. It was convenient because most of the EU did not permit potassium bromate and its continued use in British flour was a bar to enter EU trade. 

Potassium bromate is a widely used dough conditioner. However, if it is used in excessive quantities in bread products then appreciable residues (> 1 mg/kg) can remain which is of concern since it is a cancer suspect agent. Its routine analysis is laborious, time-consuming and difficult by HPLC, and Cunningham and Warner (2000) described the development of an instrumental neutron activation method for determination of bromine while HPLC was used to determine bromate in selected samples. 

It is unstable to heat, neutral or alkaline pH, and can be easily leached out of foods. Thiamin is destroyed by sulfur dioxide (often used as a food preservative), potassium bromate (oxidizing agent used in bread) and by sodium bicarbonate (in chemically leavened breads). 

SAFETY PROFILE Salts of iodic acid. Variable toxicity. Generally eye, skin, and mucous membrane irritants. Powerful oxidizers. Similar to bromates and chlorates. Contamination of iodates with organic matter may produce explosive mixtures. Iodates are used in bread as an improving agent for the dough. When heated to decomposition they emit toxic fumes of I . See also specific compounds. 

P. R. Haddad and P. E. Jackson, The determination of ascorbate, bromate and metabisulfite in bread improvers using high performance ion-exchange chromatography. Food Tech. Aiist., 37,. 305,1985. 

Lipoxygenase-Catalyzed Cross-Linkages in Proteins. In order to produce the right texture in bread and similar products, chemicals such as bromates, acetone peroxides, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, calcium... 

Another example would be potassium bromate (a dough conditioner in bread, among other uses) which is not approved in England. 

In some parts of the world, potassium bromate is no longer allowed in bread formulations. 

Nakamura, M, Murakami, T., Himata, K., Hosoya, S., and Yamada, Y. 2006. Effects of reducing agents and baking conditions on potassium bromate residues in bread. Cereal Foods World 5U2)-.69-13. 

This section covers all the additives and treatments that are added or applied to flour. Some of these qualify as permitted flour treatments in law. The term flour improver is also used as a synonym. In this work the term improver is restricted to the compound improvers that are added to bread doughs. These mixtures tend to contain not only flour treatments but other required ingredients as well such as emulsifiers. The statutory additions that are made to flour for nutritional reasons are excluded. Also excluded are some of the substances that have historically been used but have now been universally banned. Some substances such as potassium bromate that are banned in the UK but are still legal elsewhere are covered. 

Bromate treatment in the dough gives an increase in elasticity and a reduction in extensibility. These are of course the desired characteristics for making bread. 

Potassium bromate is an oxidizing reagent in bromate-bromide mixture for titrimetric analysis. It also is a bread- and Hour-improving agent. 

Okolie, N.P. and Osareiuen, E.J., Toxic bromate residues in Nigerian bread. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol, 70, 443, 2003. 

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