Many Americans Are Consuming ‘Yoga Mat Chemical’ in Their Breads — And FDA Has Plans to Stop It

Every bakery lover in America wants their bread to be soft and smooth, but not at the cost of eating yoga mats.

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(L) Woman unrolls a yoga mat on the floor, (R) A person breaks a piece of bread. (Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | (L) Mikhail Nilov, (R) SHVETS Productions)

The next time you catch sight of a familiar packet of bread or a subway sandwich, you might want to take out your yoga mat, unroll and flatten it, and utter “Namaste,” because there’s an ingredient in this bread that better belongs to your yoga mat than your sandwich. Some goggle-eyed scientists looked under the microscope and discovered that an ingredient which is used in your yoga mat is nowadays inside your bread. The backstory starts with bags of flour.

Woman rolling yoga mat on the floor (Representative Image Source: Freepik)

This flour, after getting moistened, pummelled, and kneaded, is sprinkled with yeast so it can rise and swell into a puffy texture. During this process, sometimes, the manufacturer peppers the flour mixture with this “yoga mat chemical” for whitening and smoothing. Everyone, of course, desires their bread to be soft and crisp, but not at the cost of chewing their yoga mats. This is why the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recently banned this ingredient, especially for manufacturers who are involved in making breads and baked goods.

Slices of bread stacked in a basket (Representative Image Source: Freepik)

Known by the name “azodicarbonamide (ADA),” this “yoga mat chemical” is famously used for things like whitening cereal flour, improving bread baking dough, enhancing rubberiness of shoe soles, in sealing caps of ketchup bottles, and in turning liquid chemicals into spongy foam, according to the FDA. EWG previously reported that ADA is used in nearly 500 items and more than 130 brands of bread, a big reason for concern.

Slices of different kinds of breads arranged in a black saucer (Representative Image Source: FreePik)

The FDA previously shared that it is perfectly safe to eat foods containing ADA. "FDA considers ADA a safe food additive when used for the purposes and at the levels specified in the FDA regulations," the agency wrote on the website. However, after studying some mice, they called this ban into action. Some of their researchers who were studying mice found that the semicarbazide content of this ingredient could trigger tumors in mice, but only at the levels that “far exceeded” the estimated amounts people ate through breads and other foods.

Two kinds of bread loaves placed on a table. (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Marianna Ole)

This semicarbazide, together with urethane, are two chemicals that tend to break down during the baking process, and both of them have been linked to cancer. Not just cancer or tumor, the chemical is also linked with hormone disruption and immune system suppression, according to the World Health Organization. This ban would add the U.S. to the list of countries like China, India, Australia, and some others in the European Union, where manufacturers have already ceased to use this ingredient in their food products due to potential health risks. "No parent should ever worry about what's in their child's food. We're taking decisive action and using every authority we have to clean up the food supply and protect American families," said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in a press release.

Woman pulls out a loaf of bread from a brown packet (Representative Image Source: Freepik)

The announcement for this ban was issued by Kyle Diamantas, the current acting deputy commissioner in charge of the FDA's Human Foods Program, according to CBS News. "That plan will include the creation and rolling out of a modernized, evidence-based prioritization scheme for reviewing chemicals presently in the food supply, and that will be made available for public comment later this month," Diamantas told the news channel.