AG James Uthmeier launches investigation into bread additive

Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday he is launching a probe into commercial baking products containing potassium bromate with an eye on sales of products to Florida schools.

“Nobody is getting sued today — yet. We want to learn more information. We will be issuing subpoenas to companies that do buy and sell products with potassium bromate in them,” said Uthmeier, appearing at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine campus in Orlando.

Uthmeier said his office will first issue subpoenas to General Mills and its Pillsbury subsidiary, “and the list will likely go on from there.”

“At the end of the day, we want to protect our families. Number one, public health and safety will always be the priority of our Office of Attorney General as we’re seeking for transparency, notice, and holding businesses accountable that choose profit over safety,” he said.

Potassium bromate is a conditioner used to strengthen dough products and improve rise of baked products. It also is used for malting barley to produce fermented beverages and distilled spirits.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates potassium bromate as a food additive in the United States. The product has been linked to cancer in animal testing. Consequently, it is banned in many parts of the world, although still permitted in the United States under certain conditions.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, labels potassium bromate as possibly carcinogenic to humans.

Support on the left and the right

Healthy foods is an issue that transcends traditional politics, finding support from the right and the left. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made his push against food additives part of his Make America Healthy Again agenda, which has been endorsed by President Donald Trump.

Uthmeier, campaigning for election in his own right as attorney general in November, announced his investigation during an event that featured state Rep. Meg Weinberger and others including Orlando chiropractor Ben Rall and Winter Park nurse practitioner Karen Kelly.

Weinberger, a Republican legislator from Palm Beach Gardens, championed legislation in 2025 that would have prohibited the use of five food dyes in K-12 school food programs. The bill never received a hearing.

She also co-sponsored HB 595, along with Democratic Rep. Lindsey Cross of St. Petersburg. The bill would have banned certain dyes as well as brominated vegetable oil and potassium bromate beginning 2028. It also was never heard in committee.

The Senate companion, SB 560, was co-sponsored by state Sen. Joe Gruters, who also serves as chair of National Republican Committee.

Uthmeier commended Weinberger and pledged “to helping her champion this effort in the year ahead.”

Kelly, founder of Mercy Medical in Winter Park, leaned into the microphone during her remarks to acknowledge that California has embraced elimination of potassium bromate from food products, passing legislation to that end in 2023. The law takes effect in 2027.

“If California can do it, Floridians, we need to be having this conversation, right?” she said, slightly lowered her voice to a joking whisper to not let the praise for that Democratic state be heard too loudly.

Not his first announcement

Uthmeier was appointed attorney general by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February 2025 after the governor placed then-Attorney General Ashley Moody in the U.S. Senate.

Uthmeier was a key player in DeSantis’ inner circle, joining the administration in 2019 and eventually making his way to chief of staff. He managed the governor’s ill-fated presidential campaign and returned to the administration to help the governor defeat proposed constitutional amendments to restore abortion rights and legalize recreational cannabis.

Uthmeier in Tampa appearance talks Hope Florida, UF teaching position, guns

He has been a central figure in the controversy over Hope Florida Foundation. In addition to working as AG, Uthmeier holds a part-time teaching position at the University of Florida Levin College of Law that pays him six figures.

The AG is a member of the Florida Cabinet and is the state’s top law enforcement officer. Since being appointed, Uthmeier has used the power of his office to announce several headline-grabbing investigations targeting:

• The “climate cartel” for alleged violation of the state’s consumer-protection or antitrust laws.
• The NFL for alleged violation of the state’s Florida’s Civil Rights Act for attempting to diversify its team leadership.
• Lorex, a Canadian company that sells home security cameras, often used to monitor cribs, pets, babysitters, and doorbells, for alleged ties to the Chinese government. The subpoenas were part of Uthmeier’s “consumer protection investigation into possible foreign spying risks,” according to a news release.

Uthmeier has not, however, used the power of his office to do what other Florida AG’s have done: intervene in proposed public utility rate hikes before Florida’s Public Service Commission.