EDITOR’S NOTE: Read about how pizzeria owners made the switch to unbleached, unbromated flour in our June 2026 issue.
- New York lawmakers passed legislation that will ban use of potassium bromate – a common dough conditioner – in food products used in the state.
- Potassium bromate is widely used by New York City pizzerias due to its ability to speed up mixing and baking processes.
- Flour manufacturers and distributors will have one year to sell through bromated flour stock, and restaurants have until the expiration dates on flour bags to use bromated products.
Common Ingredient in New York City Pizza Dough Would Become Illegal One Year After Governor’s Signature
A dough conditioner popular with New York City pizzerias would become illegal if food-safety legislation is signed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. Members of the New York Assembly this week passed the Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act, which explicitly forbids the manufacture and sale of potassium bromate in addition to food additives red dye No. 3 and propylparaben. The state Senate passed the legislation in March.
Often referred to as a dough conditioner, potassium bromate is popular among New York City pizzerias for its ability to strengthen dough, speed up mixing and baking times and prompt pizza crusts to spring up in the oven. The oxidizing agent has been linked to cancer, however, leading it to be banned in California, Canada, China, the European Union and other areas.
After Gov. Hochul adds her signature to the legislation (or if 10 days pass, and it is automatically made law), food distributors will have one year to transition New York-based clients to unbleached/unbromated flour. Meanwhile, restaurants will have until the expiration date on bags of flour to work on new recipes and pizza-making techniques before they, too, will be restricted to unbleached/unbromated flour.
Switching to Unbleached/Unbromated Flour
As the health hazards related to potassium bromate have become more widely known, many pizzerias have moved away from flours containing the chemical.
In an Instagram video for her Tori T’s Pizzeria in Long Island, New York, Tori Tiso says, “Just like dinosaurs became extinct, so will the old flour.” When Tiso made the switch, she says it took two weeks to develop a new fermentation process using unbleached/unbromated flour, spending hundreds of dollars on supplies in the process.
On the other side of the transition, she adds, “Not only are we going to have a better product for our customers, it’s going to be healthier for them, too.”
Bill Zonios, a Pennsylvania-based pizzeria owner who also made the switch to unbleached/unbromated flour, says potassium bromate “lets you take shortcuts that you can’t take if you are using unbromated flour.” For example, his mixing time for dough containing potassium bromate was about three minutes faster than dough using unbromated flour.
The owner of Glenside Pizza in Glenside, Pennsylvania, spent about a month trialing different flours and tweaking his dough recipe before discovering one that closely emulates the dough recipe his pizzeria had been using since 2001 – minus the potassium bromate.
“I wish more people would make this change,” Zonios tells Pizza Today. “You have to put customers before profits. Do your research, educate yourself. … You can feel good about it.”
Lawmakers on Potassium Bromate
Dr. Anna Kelles, the New York state lawmaker who sponsored the Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act in the Assembly, holds a doctorate in nutritional epidemiology. Announcing the legislation’s victory in a press release, she says, “This legislation restores transparency by requiring companies to make public the safety analyses they have already completed under federal standards. It also removes specific chemicals from the food supply that have established links to cancer, hormone disruption, and organ damage.”
New York state Sen. Brian Kavanagh, who sponsored the state Senate version of the bill, said, “Today, in spite of an onslaught of misinformation from the food industry, we are taking a critical step toward protecting New Yorkers from having to guess what potentially harmful chemicals might be lurking in the food we eat.”
