What is unbleached, unbromated flour?

  White flour (Flickr/ Photo by Mel B.)

Have you ever been doing your due diligence in the confounding bread aisle of the supermarket and conscientiously reading the ingredients label, when you are stopped dead in your tracks at the first ingredient: “unbleached, unbromated wheat flour?” Are we supposed to know what that means?

Bleached flour

Bleached flour, as you might expect, is whiter than the unbleached version, but how does it get that way? A Clorox rinse? No, but close. After the flour is milled, it is subjected to a chlorine gas bath, which whitens it, reduces the gluten content and provides a finer grain.

In 1910, bleached flour was held to be unfit for human consumption by a federal district court in Missouri and ultimately by the Supreme Court. However, the first chief of the FDA complained that through the influence of flour millers, the ban on bleached flour was never enforced. And so began the FDA’s long tradition of sacrificing consumer interests to special interests.

Before the use of chemical bleaches such as chlorine dioxide, benzoyl peroxide, and chlorine gas, flour was bleached naturally but it took several months as opposed to the 2 days required with a chemical bleaching agent.

What’s worse than the addition of the chemicals is that the chlorine combines with proteins in the flour to produce alloxan, a known carcinogen. Alloxan is used in laboratory tests to induce diabetes in rats and mice because it destroys beta cells in the pancreas. It’s not been proven that alloxan has the same effect in humans nor that the level of alloxan or chlorine remaining in bread is a problem. It’s also not been proven safe.

Bromated flour

Bromated flour has been treated with potassium bromate to improve dough elasticity, allow it to stand up to commercial baking practices, and produce a higher rising bread. Potassium bromate is a potential carcinogen that may be harmful when consumed and is outlawed in the U.K. It has been associated with thyroid dysfunction. Some states but not all require that potassium bromate be disclosed on food labels.

So unbleached, unbromated on the label is a good thing. As always, it’s a good policy to look for organic, whole grain breads with not a lot of ingredients that require research.

This is the seventh article in a series on bread.  Read the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth articles.