a flour bleaching agent azodicarbonamide

In May 2003, a baby food company found trace amounts of semicarbazide (SEM) when monitoring nitrofurazone (a veterinary antibiotic banned in Europe) in its products. Prior to this, this substance was called a metabolite, It is therefore an indicator of nitrofurazone. In this case, however, the reagent was found to originate from the decomposition of azodicarbonamide.
Azodicarbonamide is also used as a flour bleaching agent in some countries outside of Europe. In this case, azodicarbonamide was used as a blowing agent azodicarbonamide in the plastic gasket used to seal the metal lid to the glass jar. This reagent has decomposed under heat treatment of the product. Since azodicarbonamide is used by most bottle cap manufacturers, the vast majority of baby jar products on the global market are affected by this incident.
Shortly after this incident was discovered, the industry reported the situation to European and national authorities and informed them that measures would be taken to replace azodicarbonamide as an alternative blowing agent. The European Commission requires EFSA to carry out a risk assessment and advise the Commission on the risks of agents. EFSA conducted its first assessment in 2003 and said in July of that year that the risk to consumers, if any, was minimal. It recognizes that SEM is a very weak carcinogen in mice and has weak genotoxic activity. Although it acknowledges that safety concerns are low, it recommends removing SEM from baby food as soon as technological progress allows (EFSA, 2003a,b). The European Commission has banned the use of azodicarbonamide in food contact materials since August 2005, giving the industry time to change. EFSA also reassures the public that given the low levels of SEM and the low safety risk, consumers do not need to change their dietary habits and can continue to consume all relevant food products, including baby food.
In September 2005, a government scientist found traces of 2-isopropylthioxanthone (ITX) in ready-to-eat infant formula from Nestle products. ITX, a photoinitiator used in inks printed on carton packaging, contaminates the inside of the packaging during processing and then migrates into the product. Similar to semicarbazides, ITX is used globally for packaging by Tetra Pak and other packaging companies; therefore, a wide variety of products (e.g. milk and dairy products, infant formula, soy drinks, juices, smoothies and other beverages) may Affected globally

Article source: https://article-realm.com/article/Internet-Business/Internet-Marketing/48863-a-flour-bleaching-agent-azodicarbonamide.html