Over 500 additional food items could have azodicarbonamide other than in bread at fast food restaurants like Subway and McDonalds CBS News reported Friday.
"EWG recommends that consumers take steps to avoid the industrial additive ADA in their food. It is an unnecessary ingredient, its use has raised concerns about occupational exposure, and questions remain about its potential risk to consumers," the organization wrote, adding that it urged all manufacturers to stop using the product in breads.
Some of the 130 brands include Ball Park, Butternut, Country Hearth, Fleischman's, Food Club, Harvest Pride, Healthy Life, Jimmy Dean, Joseph Campione, Kroger, Little Debbie, Mariano's, Marie Callendar's, Martin's, Mother's, Nature's Own, Pillsbury, Roman Meal, Sara Lee, Schmidt, Shoprite, Safeway, Smucker's, Sunbeam, Turano, Tyson, Village Hearth and Wonder the Environmental Working Group reported.
Bakers have used the questionable chemical to stiffen the dough in their bread CNN reported.
The chemical has urethane known as a carcinogen or a substance that can lead to cancer. There is more urethane in the bread when the most azodicarbonamide allowed, or 0.0045 percent is used minimizing the chances humans will become harmed from consuming it CNN reported.
The chemical must meet this requirement through the amount of flour it contains when its used in bread.
Subway announced it was no longer going to make breads with the chemical Azodicarbonamide Feb. 7 CNN reported.
Breads found in grocery stores, served in restaurants, and McDonald's, Starbucks, and Arby's currently still use the chemical in their products according to CNN. McDonald's still uses the ingredient in bread on its McRib sandwich for instance.
"Urethane is found in bread made without azodicarbonamide, but no one is arguing we ban bread for that reason," John Coupland, a food science professor at Penn State Bloomberg Businessweek reported. "Toasting bread doubles or triples the urethane content, a much greater increase than adding azodicarbonamide, but no one is arguing we should ban toasters because of that."
