Long Island pizzeria owners prepare for NYS bromate ban

An additive found in many local pizzas may soon be banned in New York State. Potassium bromate is an ingredient in the most common flour used in Long Island pizzerias.

"Everyone uses it," said Anthony Laurina, the owner of Phil’s Pizzeria in Syosset. "It’s what I’ve always used, and I know how to work with it."

A bill that has been passed by the state Senate and Assembly and is currently making its way to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk would also ban the food dye FD & C Red No. 3 and the preservative propylparaben. And it would require food and beverage manufacturers to report to state officials when they use substances not approved by the FDA but are generally recognized as safe by experts, also known as GRAS ingredients. 

But, thanks to the vibrancy (and volubility) of the local pizzeria community, potassium bromate seems to be making the most noise, including on social media, where local pizzeria owners have been going head-to-head about quality ingredients.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, considers potassium bromate "possibly carcinogenic to humans."

If they are consuming it at all, bread- and pizza-eating humans ingest very little potassium bromate. According to the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, during the baking process most of it "rapidly breaks down to form innocuous bromide. However ... the tiny amounts of bromate that may remain in bread pose a small risk to consumers." The FDA currently permits 0.0075 parts potassium bromate for every 100 parts by weight of flour, but it is banned in almost every country except the United States and Japan. It has also been banned in California.

What is potassium bromate?

Potassium bromate is a flour "improver" or "conditioner" that helps dough develop the gluten structure it needs to rise during the process of fermentation and baking.

Rob Cervoni, owner of Taglio pizzerias in Mineola and Massapequa Park, has been a vocal opponent of potassium bromate for years (there’s a neon sign saying, "No bleach no bromate" hanging in his dining room) and a vocal proponent of the ban. Which isn’t to say he doesn’t understand why bakers use it.

"It’s like having a superpower," he said. "It makes the dough easier to stretch. It speeds up the fermentation process so you can use it sooner — but the dough will also last longer. It gives you a crispier crust and a fluffier crumb. It’s like the difference between going to the gym and going to the gym and taking steroids."

Danny Agelatos, owner of Anna Pizza + Wine in Woodbury, has not used a bromated flour in 15 years, but he recalled his first pizza job, working in his uncle’s pizzeria in Queens when he was in his teens: "I remember we’d mix the dough, roll it into balls, throw them in the fridge and use them the next day."

At Anna, his process is much more complicated — more so because he uses a sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast. Over the course of about five hours his dough is mixed, rested, mixed and rested again, then stretched and folded by hand before being balled and refrigerated. His dough will be ready to use about 30 hours after he started making it.

Why is its use so widespread? 

There are scores of pizzerias on Long Island that shun bromated flour — few, if any of the pizzerias on Newsday's Best Pizza list use it. Nevertheless, the most commonly used flour at local pizzerias is General Mills’ All Trumps, which is chemically bleached and contains potassium bromate as well as nutrients commonly used to "enrich" flour (niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin and folic acid). Highly refined, it evinces very little in the way of flavor.

But most pizza makers who use All Trumps haven’t sought it out for its specific properties — it’s just what they "grew up with" and, like Laurina, they’ve built their recipes and procedures (how much water, how long to knead, how long to ferment and bake) around it. And the pizza it produces is what their customers have come to expect.

Laurina is philosophical about the small potential danger of potassium bromate, noting that "a lot of the people talking about it have no problem selling liquor." But he isn’t opposed to seeking out alternatives, noting that the producer of All Trumps also offers an unbleached, un-bromated version that he has heard good things about. "If I have to change flours, I absolutely will."

What's the alternative? 

Since the European Union banned potassium bromate decades ago, any flour imported from Europe is free of the additive. Cervoni is among the many local artisanal pizzaioli whose flour is made by Caputo, the popular Italian mill. Whereas a 50-pound bag of All Trumps costs about $18 or $19, Caputo is more than twice that — one reason why so-called artisanal pizza is more expensive than what you find at the corner slice shop.

It’s important to bear in mind that most "Italian" flour is milled in Italy from wheat grown elsewhere — Canada, Eastern Europe and even the United States. Agelatos believes that American flour is the best in the world, and his mixture contains two flours from Central Milling in Utah. Since they range in price from $60 to $80, he blends them with Sir Galahad flour ($25) from Vermont-based King Arthur Baking Company, whose company motto has long been, "Never bleached, never bromated."

What happens next?

Once the bill reaches Hochul’s desk, she has 10 days to sign it. At that point, the clock starts ticking: The sale of bromated flour will only be lawful for one additional year. And the use of it will become unlawful on the flour’s expiration date, but no later than three years after the law goes into effect.

The Consumer Brands Association is lobbying against the legislation. If it passes, says the Virginia-based trade group, the bill could cost New York State upward of $21 million in regulatory and information technology costs and raise grocery prices.

"Consumer packaged goods manufacturers already follow rigorous, science-based safety standards to deliver the safe, affordable and convenient products consumers rely on every day," John Hewitt, the association’s senior vice president of state affairs, told Newsday in an email via a spokesperson. "New York residents don’t need higher prices, more red tape or added confusion. A consistent national approach to ingredient safety is the better path, avoiding a costly state-by-state patchwork."

But Cervoni sees a potential upside for consumers if the bill becomes law. "It’s possible that quality will decline because pizzerias no longer have the crutch of potassium bromate, or it’s going to get better because pizzerias will start using better flour and get serious about fermentation."