The newsletter that tells you what the food industry doesn't want you to know — in plain English, every Wednesday morning.
One ingredient under the microscope — what it is, where it hides, which countries have banned it, and what to use instead.
A specific product swap you can make this week — same taste, better ingredients, usually the same price.
One thing the food industry buries in fine print, lobbied to keep legal, or flat-out doesn't want on your radar.
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Potassium bromate is added to bread flour to make it rise higher and look fluffier. The problem? It's a Group 2B possible carcinogen according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
It's been banned in the EU, UK, Canada, Brazil, China, and 80+ other countries since the early 2000s. In the US, it's still classified as "generally recognized as safe" by the FDA — a status last reviewed in 1958.
Where it hides: Sandwich bread, hot dog buns, pizza dough, flour tortillas, bagels. Check for "bromated flour" or "potassium bromate" in the ingredients.
What to look for: Dave's Killer Bread (original), Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse varieties, and most store-brand organic sandwich breads skip bromate entirely. Same price range. Just check the label for "bromated flour" — if it's not there, you're good.
💡 Pro tip: If it says "unbleached unbromated flour" on the label, that's a green flag. Scan it in FoodPeel to confirm.
When you see "natural flavors" on an ingredient list, you probably imagine vanilla beans or real fruit extracts. Here's what it actually means legally: any flavor derived from something that was once natural — even if it went through 40 processing steps to get to the final product.
The FDA allows up to 100 incidental additives under the "natural flavors" umbrella without disclosure. Companies use this to protect proprietary formulas — but it also means you have zero visibility into what's actually creating that flavor.
Takeaway: "Natural" ≠ safe or simple. FoodPeel flags products where "natural flavors" appears alongside other concerning ingredients, so you can make a fully informed call.
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