Maybe We Should Spit Out the Potassium Bromate?

Are we the last to know that some New York pizzas (and bagels) include an additive called "potassium bromate"?

Potassium bromate is a possible carcinogen that is used to make dough more elastic and less sticky. It allows for larger loaf volumes and a lighter, finer crumb. Basically, it gives New York pizza its distinctive chewiness. Potassium bromate also whitens dough as it develops, so it's part of the pizza aesthetic.

In late May 2026, New York's state legislature passed a bill banning the use of potassium bromate, and it's causing a major crisis among New York's pizzeristas. One pizza historian (!) estimates that 80% of New York's pizzerias and bagelries rely on pizza flour that includes potassium bromate. As of this writing, Gov. Kathy Hochul has not yet signed the bill into law. The additive already has been outlawed across the European Union, China, India, Canada, and California (beginning next year).

In the baking process, the bromate becomes bromide, which is less risky, but it depends upon whether the correct amounts are used. Also, it didn't make us feel better when we learned that potassium bromate is used as a laboratory reagent, in permanent-wave compounds, and in explosives. On expert stated simply: ""From a consumer's point of view, there's nothing good about potassium bromate."

What will happen? If Gov. Hochul signs the bill, then New York's pizzerias and flour purveyors will have to adjust. Certainly, pizza will not disappear from New Yorkers' diets. As this article describes, some pizzeristas have already begun the transition.

Our guess is that potassium bromate is an additive that saves money and drives up profit margins for the flour companies and keeps prices lower for pizzerias. Do consumers benefit financially in return for the health risks? It's hard to know, but we doubt it. Alternatives might cost a little more in the near term, but cost margins tend to decline as safer, compliant alternatives are tested and put on the market in response to regulations. That's the likeliest scenario here, as well.

So, this crisis is likely to pass without most of us even knowing it was here.