Sunday, February 9, 2014

Is Azodicarbonamide in Your Bread? (Part 1)

If you haven't heard, "healthy" fast food giant Subway was taken down this week by Vani Hari, otherwise known as the Food Babe, for their use of Azodicarbonamide in their bread products.  Over 75,000 people (including myself) signed a petition for Subway to take this chemical out of their bread.

What is Azodicarbonamide you ask?  Well, it's a dangerous plastic chemical used as a dough conditioner in bread products.  This same chemical is used in YOGA MATS, SHOE RUBBER and SYNTHETIC LEATHER.  Azodicarbonamide has also been found to induce asthma and is possibly carcinogenic.  Now the scary thing is that the USDA allows this chemical in our foods in the U.S. and considers it "safe" in small amounts.  So why is it banned in the U.K., Europe and Australia?  Because when Azodicarbonamide is baked in bread, it produces the carcinogen urethane

Subway restaurants over there use a completely different dough for their bread.  Check out the difference in the ingredient list (photo taken from foodbabe.com)


Sadly, Subway isn't the only culprit here.  Many fast food restaurants use Azodicarbonamide in their bread products as well, including McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Dunkin Donuts and even Starbucks (excluding their La Boulange Bakery products).

Azodicarbonamide is also lurking in the majority of bread products in supermarkets.  So even if you eat at home, you're still not safe from this dangerous chemical.  I'll be writing more about bread products in my next post. 

Fortunately, the petition has put some great pressure on Subway.  They have announced that they plan to remove Azodicarbonamide from their products "soon".  Want to help put the pressure on?  Please sign the Food Babe's petition below!  And don't eat at Subway until they make a change! 

http://foodbabe.com/subway/


Every signature counts! YOU can help make a difference! 

~The Healthy Food Detective :)  



Related articles:  


http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/chemical-subway-ditched-mcdonalds-wendys-use-it-too-n25051

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/national_world&id=9421744

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