Florida AG Uthmeier subpoenas Performance Food Group as potassium bromate probe widens

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has widened his investigation into potassium bromate in the state's food supply, issuing a civil investigative subpoena to Performance Food Group, one of the nation's largest food distributors, three months after subpoenaing flour maker General Mills. Uthmeier announced the move Friday, Oct. 16, at a news conference in Orlando.

The subpoena demands records from the company's Miami and Orlando distribution centers showing which products made with certain bromated flours were sold in Florida, who bought them, who bought the flour itself and whether purchasers were told the products contained the additive. The company has until Nov. 6 to respond.

What the subpoena seeks

According to the attorney general's office, Performance Food Group, through its Performance Foodservice operations, is among the top purchasers of bromated flour identified so far in the investigation. Performance Foodservice supplies restaurants, institutions and other businesses.

The subpoena covers four bulk bakery flours, each described by the attorney general's office as bleached, bromated and enriched:

• Pillsbury Potentate High Gluten Flour
• Pillsbury Best Bakers Patent Flour
• Gold Medal All Aces Bakery Flour
• Gold Medal Superlative Bakers Flour

Those are the same four flours named in the July subpoena to General Mills, which makes the Pillsbury and Gold Medal bakery lines. The records requested from Performance Food Group date to 2023 and cover what is in the distributor's Florida warehouses, who is buying it and where it goes, according to WKMG News 6, which covered the Orlando news conference. The materials are due to the Consumer Protection Division of the attorney general's office in Tampa.

"We are following this additive from the bag of flour to the kitchen that serves Florida families," Uthmeier said in a news release. "Performance Food Group is one of the largest buyers in this chain. Floridians have a right to know what was sold, who bought it, and whether anyone was told that these products contain a chemical much of the world has already banned."

At the news conference, Uthmeier said, "We're never going to allow people here in Florida to choose profit over public safety," according to WKMG.

Not yet an accusation

The attorney general's office stressed that the subpoena does not itself establish a violation of law. The office described it as the next step in determining how bromated flour moved through Florida's foodservice market and whether buyers were given the information they needed.

FOX 35 reported that it had reached out to both Performance Food Group and General Mills for comment. No public response from either company had been reported as of Friday, and it was not clear whether General Mills had complied with the July subpoena or whether Performance Food Group would comply with the new one.

How the investigation started

Uthmeier opened the inquiry on July 13, issuing a civil subpoena to General Mills Inc. and General Mills Operations LLC under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. That subpoena sought a list of potassium bromate products sold to Florida purchasers, the top Florida buyers of those products from 2023 through 2026, disclosures made to purchasers and to downstream users, sales to Florida schools from pre-K through 12th grade, and any research the company had on the additive's health effects, according to News4JAX and the attorney general's office.

WKMG reported that the General Mills subpoena followed findings by investigators that potassium bromate was present in flour products traced to Florida school cafeterias. The new subpoena moves one link down the supply chain, from the flour maker to a distributor that sells to commercial kitchens.

What potassium bromate is

Potassium bromate is added to some flours to strengthen dough and increase loaf volume. If it is not fully broken down during baking, residues can remain in the finished bread, according to the attorney general's office.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, classifies potassium bromate as possibly carcinogenic to humans, the agency's Group 2B category. Animal studies have linked it to kidney, thyroid and other tumors. The European Union, Canada, China, India, Brazil and many other countries prohibit its use in food.

In the United States, potassium bromate remains legal in limited uses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists it among the chemicals in the food supply that it has under review, and its review, opened in March 2024, is still at the review-of-information stage, according to the agency's website. The FDA says it worked with the American Bakers Association to improve baking technology and testing so the ingredient is used in a way that minimizes residual bromate.

The federal agency has moved against other additives on the same list in recent years. It revoked the regulation allowing brominated vegetable oil in food in July 2024 and revoked authorization of the dye FD&C Red No. 3 in January 2025.

California has gone further. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the California Food Safety Act, AB 418, in October 2023. Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, it bans the manufacture, sale and distribution in California of food containing potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, propylparaben or Red No. 3.

The attorney general's office noted that alternative dough conditioners, including ascorbic acid and enzyme systems, are already in wide commercial use in places where bromate is banned.

Health officials join the push

Officials who joined Uthmeier framed the probe as a prevention effort. Kristine Zonka, a doctor of nursing practice with the Florida Department of Health, said in the release that preventive medicine begins long before a patient reaches a clinic, with clean, safe and transparently labeled food, and thanked Uthmeier for holding both manufacturers and major distributors accountable.

"As a surgeon, I cannot un-cause a cancer," said Danny Cohen, a physician quoted in the release, adding that keeping proven and probable carcinogens out of the food supply is the one intervention that works before a diagnosis.

What it means for Floridians

Bromated flour is used mostly in commercial baking, so consumers are more likely to encounter it in restaurant, cafeteria or bakery bread than in a bag of flour on a grocery shelf. Products sold in stores list potassium bromate or bromated flour among their ingredients, so shoppers who want to avoid it can check labels. Restaurant and institutional meals do not carry ingredient labels, which is why the investigation focuses on who bought the flour and what they were told.

Parents concerned about school meals can ask their district's food service department which flours and bread suppliers it uses.

What's next

Performance Food Group's records are due Nov. 6. Under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, the attorney general can use subpoenaed records to decide whether to bring a civil enforcement case. Uthmeier has not said whether he intends to sue either company, and any further subpoenas, to other distributors or to large buyers such as school districts or restaurant chains, would extend the inquiry another step down the supply chain.