Banned in some states · High concern

Potassium Bromate

PlainFoodSafe flags Potassium Bromate as a banned in some states. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Avoid.” It appears in 422 indexed US food products.

Source-backed answer

Potassium Bromate appears in 422 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Avoid.” Its FDA SAFFA status is “Approved.” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.

422
catalogued products
#1,156
usage rank of 247,206
156
named brands represented
39%
average depth down ingredient lists

Catalog prevalence comes from Open Food Facts ingredient lists. FDA SAFFA and CSPI Chemical Cuisine labels are shown only when the source record contains them.

Potassium Bromate sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#1,156 / 247,206)

Usage rank
#1,156
of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, listed in more products than 99.5% of them.
Typical depth in an ingredient list
39%
Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 423 products listing it (mean slot 12.9). Potassium Bromate usually falls in the upper half of the list; this position does not measure its amount because source formatting, compound ingredients and labeling exceptions vary.

Derived by this site from the ingredient lists of every catalogued product (Open Food Facts), recomputed on each data refresh. 247,206 ingredients have at least one appearance and are ranked here. Usage and list position describe prevalence, not safety.

How common is Potassium Bromate vs other flagged additives?

Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Potassium Bromate highlighted.

Caramel Coloring: 23161 · 100% of the leaderCaramel Coloring23161Red 40: 22216 · 96% of the leaderRed 4022216Yellow 5: 19566 · 84% of the leaderYellow 519566Carrageenan: 18307 · 79% of the leaderCarrageenan18307Blue 1: 17024 · 74% of the leaderBlue 117024Yellow 6: 13787 · 60% of the leaderYellow 613787Sucralose: 10913 · 47% of the leaderSucralose10913Potassium Bromate: 422 · 2% of the leaderPotassium Bromate422
Indexed products containing each flagged additive. Source: Open Food Facts ingredient lists × FDA SAFFA × CSPI Chemical Cuisine.
Chart values as text

Unit: indexed products. Data current as of September 2026.

Caramel Coloring
23161
Red 40
22216
Yellow 5
19566
Carrageenan
18307
Blue 1
17024
Yellow 6
13787
Sucralose
10913
Potassium Bromate
422

What this page can and cannot answer

Audit the co-occurring flags first

100% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Potassium Bromate as the trigger. Open records such as 12 Hotdog Rolls; 7-eleven, fresh to go, snickerdoodle cookie; 7-eleven, sugar cookie and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 63.0/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 39% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.

100% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient

Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 340 of 409 NOVA-tagged records. That describes the surrounding products, not the substance. For a useful comparison, hold category and processing level constant, then inspect which named component changes alongside the caution flag; otherwise the product mix will confound the ingredient question.

Next check: open the lowest-scoring linked formulation and locate the exact caution-marked component.

What else is usually in the same product as Potassium Bromate

Across the 422 products on this site that list Potassium Bromate, these flagged additives appear alongside it most often. The comparison column is how often each one appears across every product with a parsed ingredient list, so the two figures are measured over the same set. Caramel Coloring shows up about 1.7x more often with Potassium Bromate than in the catalogue at large.

Caramel Coloring: +4ppCaramel Coloring+4ppAzodicarbonamide: +8.3ppAzodicarbonamide+8.3ppYellow 5: +3.3ppYellow 5+3.3ppYellow 6: +3.9ppYellow 6+3.9ppTitanium Dioxide: +4.3ppTitanium Dioxide+4.3pp
Percentage-point gap vs the catalogue baseline rate for each additive, Potassium Bromate products only. Source: Open Food Facts ingredient lists.
Chart values as text

Unit: percentage points above/below baseline. Data current as of September 2026.

Caramel Coloring
4pp
Azodicarbonamide
8.3pp
Yellow 5
3.3pp
Yellow 6
3.9pp
Titanium Dioxide
4.3pp
Additive Shared products Share of Potassium Bromate products Share of all products
Caramel Coloring 41 9.7% 5.7%
Azodicarbonamide 36 8.5% 0.2%
Yellow 5 34 8.1% 4.8%
Yellow 6 31 7.3% 3.4%
Titanium Dioxide 27 6.4% 2.1%

Co-occurrence describes what manufacturers formulate together. It is not a claim that these additives interact, and it carries no regulatory meaning. Counted over products with parsed ingredient lists; Open Food Facts, 2026-09-01.

Function

DOUGH STRENGTHENER, FLOUR TREATING AGENT, LEAVENING AGENT, OXIDIZING OR REDUCING AGENT

Safety Concerns

Banned in some states

How do the sampled products compare?

Each point is one of the 16 sampled products listed below: its overall safety score against how many separately flagged ingredients its label carries. Bubble size is the number of ingredient rows the label actually resolved to.

Safety score vs. flagged-ingredient count for products containing Potassium Bromate

Per-product safety score and flagged-ingredient count from the same sampled listings shown below. Bubble size = linked ingredient rows. Source: Open Food Facts labels x FDA SAFFA x CSPI Chemical Cuisine. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 16 entities by Safety score (X) and Flagged ingredients on label (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. High score, still flaggedLow score, more flaggedHigh score, fewer flaggedLow score, fewer flagged 020406080 02468 Safety score Flagged ingredients on label Safety score vs. flagged-ingredient count for products containing Potassium Bromate
Per-product safety score and flagged-ingredient count from the same sampled listings shown below. Bubble size = linked ingredient rows. Source: Open Food Facts labels x FDA SAFFA x CSPI Chemical Cuisine.

Peer ingredients with comparable catalog mass (near “Black Olives”)

Top-decile company for Potassium Bromate: 422 listings averaging 63/100. Catalog-mass neighbours in view: Black Olives; Whole Grain Corn; Magnesium Sulfate.

Similar product count

Nearest other ingredients by Open Food Facts product count (floored at ≥50).

Similar mean product score

Score-axis peers only, mean screening score among ingredients with ≥50 scored products, not a second count list.

What to do with this Potassium Bromate record

422 product rows plus any FDA/CSPI fields on Potassium Bromate are the evidence base — drill into the listings that matter for your decision.

  • Open the product sample for Potassium Bromate and read how the term sits on real packages. Open product sample
  • Move to a second ingredient page and compare registry fields plus catalog mass side by side. Browse ingredient records
  • Read how PlainFoodSafe joins source records before treating a screening label as a personal food or health conclusion. See source joins

This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.

Potassium Bromate — common follow-ups

How should I read safety signals when Potassium Bromate sits in heavily flagged products?

100% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Potassium Bromate is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, Potassium Bromate scores 1/5 on this site's screening scale and CSPI lists it as "Avoid" with FDA SAFFA status "Approved". None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.

Which product shelves show up most often with Potassium Bromate?

Potassium Bromate ranks in the top decile by product count (#1,156 of 247,206), appearing in 422 indexed products led by Plant-based foods and beverages. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.

What function does Potassium Bromate serve when it appears beside other flagged additives?

Potassium Bromate is recorded as a dough strengthener, flour treating agent, leavening agent, oxidizing or reducing agent in source technical-effect fields. In high co-flag products, that function coexists with other caution-marked components — inspect the full list rather than isolating this role.

Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Potassium Bromate). Safety ratings: CSPI Chemical Cuisine; product presence: Open Food Facts via PlainFoodSafe (September 2026). Figures are computed from those sources, no editor-typed counts. Methodology · State regulations.