Florida AG expands investigation into potassium bromate

Here we're going to talk again today about a topic that we brought up in this area several months ago, and that is potassium bromate. We're here to investigate our food supply chain. I think that citizens, families, especially you know people with kids and students, deserve to know what is in their food. And if there are harmful chemicals, if there are things that might be tied to carcinogens, to cancer, then we need to know what it is. Number one, maybe it shouldn't be in the food, but number two, if it's going to be in the food and there are health risks, then companies have a duty to put the public on notice as to what they may be consuming. There's a lot of ways you can get cancer, and the experts, which I'm not, are continuing to research and investigate. A lot of it is hereditary genetic, but some of it does come from what you eat, as I think you'll hear a little bit about today. Even if it's, you know, a smaller percentage, that's a shame because that is something that can be addressed. People can exercise their own best judgment and discretion and ultimately potentially save their lives or elongate them. So today we're here to announce our investigation is growing. In our last announcement, we launched subpoenas to General Mills, one of the largest food manufacturers, after finding that potassium bromate continues to be an ingredient in a lot of the flour that is produced and ultimately disseminated around the country. Today, we are issuing more subpoenas to Performance Food Group. This is a distributor. I think it's about the third largest distributor, food distributor in the country, and it is distributing products to restaurants and storefronts and other businesses that ultimately are selling it to the consumers. We have strong evidence that a lot of their products that are moving through the supply chain contain potassium bromate. So I'm not going to give you a chemistry lesson today, but what is it? It's an ingredient that is not natural, and it is designed to make food, bread specifically, fluffy, elastic, you know, white and fresh looking. It enables it to be preserved and sit on the shelves for long periods of times, maybe weeks. Bread is probably not supposed to sit on the shelf for weeks. I know my wife, the last announcement, I brought some fresh sourdough. She bakes bread fresh, and while it's fabulous, the best I've had, it's not going to be good several days later sitting on a shelf. So companies do this. Look, they need to sell in the aggregate. I get it. They want to make money, and they're looking for lowest-cost options. But at the end of the day, we're never going to allow people here in Florida to choose profit over public safety, to choose money over the health and safety of our families and our young people. So with this subpoena, we'll be asking for information, you know, what they know about the safety and health risks of this ingredient, who ultimately all of their purchasers are that are continuing to take this product that might have dangerous ingredients and ultimately pass it on to the consumers. And also a big thing is schools. You know, we've been able to identify a lot of General Mills products, ultimately making it into our school cafeteria systems where our young people, our next generation, our students are consuming it every single day. At the end of the day, I think you know by now, when it comes to me and our Office of Attorney General, protecting our kids will always be number one, and there is nothing we won't do to protect them. So, potassium bromate, it's used to make the dough stronger, rise higher, more elasticity. But the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as a possibly cancer-causing product. In extensive animal studies, it's caused kidney tumors, thyroid tumors, and tumors in the lining of the abdomen. It damages DNA. And that's why there are many, many countries that have already banned it from their marketplace. The European Union banned it in 1990, Canada banned it in 1994, China banned it in 2005, India in 2016, so did Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Peru, and others. The United States, though, still allows it. And so you have to wonder why. If much of the world has taken this off the shelves, has determined that there's at least evidence of causation that it might give people cancer, why are we still selling it here today? And unfortunately, I mean, our investigation, I hope, will reveal many things if they're cooperative. If they're not, you know, we tend to go into court rather quickly. But if, you know, it seems to me that there's probably a monetary component. If it's cost effective to sell this in the aggregate and use this preservative, then that's going to be what incentivizes a lot of businesses, unfortunately. But here in Florida, we use every tool we have. We've got strong consumer protections to go out and protect the people, to protect our consumers and make sure that they are not being deceived. If a product is not safe and effective, then they need to be notified. So a bag of flour, it does not stop at the mill. It moves through distributors, into kitchens, onto plates. Many of you are probably consuming potassium bromate every week, maybe even every day. I hope it's not going to cause problems, but again, is that a risk we really want to take? So Performance Food Group, through Performance Service, buys this flour in volume. They're going to get this subpoena today. Our records put it amongst the top purchasers. This subpoena will cover its Miami and Orlando operations, which are very widespread. We're going to be seeking records going back to 2023. We want to know what's in their warehouses, what they know about the safety and security of their products and ultimately where it's going. So what's next? You know, we want to get these records. We've asked by November Sixth. We admit the subpoena. This is not a verdict. It's not a judgment or a ruling. This is a step towards an inquiry. I think the people of Florida deserve to know what is in their food. So we're going to use every tool we have to get those answers. This is a demand for the truth. And as always, we hope these companies will work cooperatively with us in our effort to protect the public safety. We want to make sure that our restaurants, our schools, our pizza shops, our storefronts are not knowingly causing people to get cancer. I think that's a pretty fair ask. So to close, I'll say parents, They shouldn't have to spend hours a day or study chemistry to know what's in the food. They don't have time. They have a lot of burdens on their plate these days. So we're going to go and we're going to do this work for them and make sure that we're protecting our Florida families at all costs. So I thank you for being here today. We will have much more to come on this. At the end of the day, you know, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act laws give us tools to bring lawsuits on behalf of the state, on behalf of our consumers, when there's evidence of deception and how things are marketed. If there's a risk to safety, you sure as heck better tell the people about it. So with that, I'll turn it over, and I thank my guests for joining and offering some comments today. First, we'll hear from Dr. Danny Cohen. Good morning. Good morning. I want to thank the Attorney General for the opportunity to speak here today. I've prepared a few remarks. My name is Dan Cohen. I'm a surgical oncologist in the field of urology. I spend my days in the operating room removing tumors from patients and in a clinic diagnosing cancers. And I want to speak today not about politics, but about something I see with my own eyes every day, cancer that in many cases did not have to happen. Here is what the science tells us. We now know that a large share of cancer is not simply bad luck or bad genes. It is driven by exposures we can actually do something about. Nearly 40% of all cancers amongst American adults and 44% of cancer deaths are attributable to modifiable risk factors. These are things like tobacco, excess weight, alcohol, and diet. A global study published this year in Nature Medicine reached nearly the same conclusion. Close to 4 in 10 cancers worldwide are potentially preventable. Now let's get specific about food. When we isolate diet alone, the numbers are sobering. The American Cancer Society estimates that 4 to 5 percent of all cancer cases each year are directly related to poor diets. Broader reviews put diet and nutrition at as much as 20 to 25 percent of the global cancer burden when you include the role of obesity. And here is the critical point. That entire fraction is avoidable. These are not exposures we are born with. They are exposures we eat. We are reminded of the popular slogan, we are what we eat. How true is that? This is where potassium bromate matters. Potassium bromate is a flour additive. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as a human carcinogen. In animal studies going back decades, it caused tumors of the kidney, thyroid, and lining of the abdomen. It damages DNA directly through oxidative stress. It is so concerning that it has been banned or restricted in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and many other countries. The question Floridians deserve to have answered is simple. Why is a substance that much of the world has removed from its bread still permitted in ours? Consider that this adds up to one U.S. modeling study estimated that a poor diet will contribute to more than 3 million new cancer cases and 1.7 million cancer deaths over the lifetime of today's adults at a cost of a quarter of a trillion dollars. As a surgeon, I cannot uncause a cancer. I can only try to cut it out after it has already taken hold. But prevention, keeping proven and probable carcinogens out of our food supply, is one of the interventions that works before the diagnosis, before the operating room, before the grief. That is why I stand in support of this investigation. Floridians have a right to know what is in their food, and a right to a food supply that does not quietly raise their risk of cancer. I, too, assume that if a food is offered and sold by a large corporation, it must have been vetted and proven to be safe. Apparently, that is not the case. This is not about politics. It is about biology, and it is about protecting lives. Thank you. Thank you for that meaningful commentary. Next, we'll hear from Dr. Zonka. Good morning, and thank you, Attorney General Meyer. So as a family nurse practitioner and public health official, my daily focus is on disease prevention, health promotion, and caring for families across Florida. As a mother and grandmother, that role is only heightened. In clinical practice, we often talk to patients about exercise, blood pressure, and nutrition. But preventative health care is severely undermined when the food supply itself contains hidden chemical risks. I am proud to stand alongside Attorney General Ashley Moody today to explain why this investigation is so vital from a medical and biological standpoint. So what is potassium bromate and how does it affect the body? As it's already been mentioned, potassium bromate is an oxidizing agent added to commercial flour to strengthen dough, increase elasticity, and yield high-rising white baked goods. From a cellular level, potassium bromate is classified as a genotoxic compound. That means it directly damages cellular DNA and induces severe oxidative stress in human cells. Sounds awful. Extensive toxicological research has established that potassium bromate causes cellular mutations. Studies conducted by health research bodies worldwide has already been stated that potassium bromate exposure causes malignant tumors specifically in the kidneys, thyroid, and peritoneum. While proponents argue that baking heat should ideally convert bromate back to benign bromide, clinical research shows that improper baking times, temperatures, or even over-bromated flour leaves residual active potassium bromate in finished food items consumed by the public. So as a health care practitioner, our greatest concern is for developing children. Children consume more food per pound per body weight than adults, and their developing tissues and metabolic systems are far more susceptible to chemical mutagens and carcinogens. Knowing whether bromated flour products were distributed into pre-K through 12th grade school cafeterias across Florida is a critical public health priority that demands immediate investigation. These health risks are not theoretical. Major international public authorities, which has already been stated, but I think it's an important point to remind folks that, you know, decades ago, these United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, China, India, they all removed it from their products. That should tell us something. When health authorities around the globe deem an additive too risky for human consumption, Florida families, at the very least, deserve transparency so they can make informed decisions about what they feed their family. So patients often ask questions of their health care providers about how they can avoid harmful additives in the food that they're serving their families. Consumers and local food vendors cannot make informed decisions if middle market distributors do not disclose ingredients clearly. So just as patients have a right to informed consent in health care, consumers have a right to full disclosure in the food market. True preventative medicine starts long before a patient walks into one of our clinics or one of our health departments. It starts with clean, safe, and transparently labeled food. I'm grateful for Attorney General Ashley Moody and his Consumer Protection Division for holding both manufacturers and major food distributors accountable. So to all Floridian parents and families, action is being taken to protect your health, ensure transparency, and safeguard the food supply in every community across our great state. Thank you. Thank you, Christine. Next, we'll hear from Crystal Cassidy, a former nurse and proud mom. Good morning, everybody. My name is Crystal Cassidy. I just wanted to thank the Attorney General for this opportunity to speak this morning. I hold a registered nursing license. I don't practice anymore, but as a former nurse, I can stand here and assure you that in nursing school, they do not teach proper nutrition. and it's something that I did not realize for many years but as I have I am a mother now I have a 12 year old at home I've started to realize that as a parent as a nurse we need to question things we need to start asking questions about the items that we are putting in our bodies and in our family's bodies and so I stand up here today not as a nurse but as a proud mother just imploring everyone that we need to start advocating for our children and for our own selves. The reality is that food makes us sick. And this is no longer conspiracy, but it is a fact given the subpoenas that are being issued. Potassium bromate is just one chemical that you will find in flour, but there are also several other chemicals that are used as additives inside of our food. So I want to encourage everybody to also research into the history of how our flour is developed. It goes all the way back to the early 1900s. Just the natural grain itself, the way it has been stripped down for mass production and for shelf stability, it's pretty alarming when we realize that it really has been done to make money, for these companies to make money and so we have to literally follow the money and realize that because of what's sitting on the shelves we are becoming sick from it and so I am not a crunchy mom by many any means at all but I just wanted to share that within the past year with my eyes being open to what we are being sold in our stores I've started to mill my own grains at home which seems daunting for a lot of people a lot of there's a lot of misnomers that it is too expensive it's too time consuming But since I've started milling my own grains and making my own bread, which, by the way, is only three ingredients, flour, water, and salt, I want to encourage you next time you go to the store, pull out a package of bread and read the ingredients. And you will ask yourself, why are there 20-plus ingredients in a bag of hamburger buns when you can make them at home with only three ingredients? But as a personal testimony, I want to share that when I started milling my own grains and making my own bread for my family, I suffered from eczema for many years, and within a few months, my eczema completely cleared up. And so I can't stand here today and say that it was the potassium bromate, but I can say because I am milling something that God designed, and I am getting the full nutritional value from the wheat berry, I've started to take the right path and the right turn in providing something more nutritionally beneficial for myself and for my family. And so if we can ban this chemical in countries like China and in the state of California, I think we can do a lot better here in the free state of Florida. So I just want to thank the Attorney General once again and for all the state legislators that are looking into this matter and are fighting for our well-being here in Florida. Thank you. And it's so true. I mean, when you go to the grocery store, we do it, and you look. I mean, so many things have, you know, a dozen-plus ingredients. And so we're always looking for fewer because she said, yeah, you make bread at home. You need two things. It's a lot more simple, and honestly, in some ways it tastes better. All right, to round us out, we will hear from Michelle Archival here from Covenant Journey Academy. Good morning, everyone. First, I want to thank Attorney General James Uthmeyer for inviting me to be here and for bringing attention to an issue that matters deeply to families across Florida, the health, safety, and well-being of our children. I am here today not only as Director of Strategic Partnerships for Covenant Journey Academy, but also as a concerned parent who believes that protecting our children must always be a priority, like he said. As parents, we trust that the food we purchase and serve our families is safe. We want to know that in the products we give our children, and we deserve transparency when it comes to ingredients that may pose health concerns. Potassium bromate is one example of why these conversations matter. It has been used as a flour treatment agent in baking, but scientific research has raised concerns about its potential cancer risk. Families should not have to be experts in chemistry, like our Attorney General said, to make informed decisions about what they feed their children. That is also why education is important. So at Covenant Journey Academy, we believe that educating children means preparing them not just academically, but also for decisions that they will make throughout their lives as a Christian school. We strive to help families nurture the whole child, mind, body, and spirit. Our health, we have a health and life management skills and personal fitness course, which are important parts of that commitment. So these high school electives provide opportunities for students to learn about health and personal wellness and to develop habits that can support healthier lifestyles. We want our students to understand that their health matters. We want them to become informed, responsible individuals who can ask questions, evaluate information, and make thoughtful decisions and take an active role in their own well-being, which is super important that we train our children at a young age to know that. But education cannot replace accountability. Children depend on adults to protect them, and parents deserve clear information about the products available to their families. Schools can help equip students with knowledge, but manufacturers, policymakers, and public officials also have important roles to play protecting public health. As a parent, I have a 16-year-old daughter. I want my child and all children to grow up in a world where their safety is taken seriously. As a representative of Covenant Journey Academy, I believe we must work together to build a culture that values prevention, education, transparency, and responsibility. Our children are our greatest investment. They deserve the opportunity to grow, learn, and thrive without unnecessary risks to their health. I appreciate Attorney General Othmaier for addressing this issue and for encouraging a conversation about protecting Florida families. Thank you for your time, and thank you for standing with parents who want what every parent wants, a safer, healthier future for our children. Thank you. All right. Well, I want to thank our participants here. Thank you to the attorneys in our office that take our consumer protection mission very seriously. They work around the clock on a host of issues. We are protecting kids from dangers and evils every which way you look. Our statewide prosecutors have taken down over 2,100 child predators on a little over a year. We've taken action against big tech companies that have designed applications with addictive features, keeping young people glued for hours and hours and hours a day. If you have kids or grandkids, I think you've probably seen it. We've seen strong ties to mental health challenges, suicide, self-harm, and ultimately the commission of other crimes. We've gone after some of the social gaming sites like Roblox. Yesterday we sued Discord after seeing them operate in a careless way that enables predators to disguise themselves, get into these applications, develop relationships with kids. And in the worst of cases, and sadly we've seen too many, abduct and physically harm, sexually abuse our little ones. We're going to fight to make sure our kids are safe in schools. We've gone after counties that haven't taken action when there's been pornographic and harmful content that's made it into the classrooms and libraries, something that, to me, should not be controversial. A second-grade classroom does not need to have porn in the library, and anybody that's standing on their head to defend that needs to be as far away from our kids as possible. So we will keep fighting that fight, and we will focus on the foods, on the cafeterias, making sure that we're allowing our kids to put into their bodies things that will help them grow and be strong and not subject them to harms later. So people at home, guys behind the cameras, do a little research and think again before you're eating all your doughs and breads because we're one of the few countries in the world that still allows this artificial preservative chemical ingredient to be included. And we're going to investigate. As I like to say, when we're dealing with people on the other side, we'll do it the hard way or the easy way. We prefer to do the easy way. Let's all, you know, open the books, be transparent, work hard together to make sure if there is a health risk, we're getting it out of there. But if we've got to do the hard way, we bring the heat in the courtroom all the time. So, all right. With that, thanks again for everybody in the community and in our office for being here. We'll open it up if there's a couple of questions. What would you say, obviously, the first choice would be to ban it, but it's just to be legal. so the public can make the choice, you would like it to say, like people know, it has a risk of causing cancer? Yeah, that's right. I mean, the first thing, I know our legislature is working at limitations on certain ingredients. If there are healthier alternatives out there, we'd certainly like to see businesses doing that. But at the end of the day, even if something is not 100% conclusive, but there are strong data points and studies to show ties to cancer, then absolutely the public needs to be notified of that. and let people make their own health decisions. Thanks for the question. All right. Have a good weekend, everybody. God bless you.