Potassium bromate

Potassium bromate is a flour improver that strengthens dough and gives a higher, more even loaf. It is one of the sharpest regulatory disagreements in this database: permitted in the United States, banned for food use in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, China and elsewhere.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Potassium bromate by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationPermitted, with conditions21 CFR 172.730retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFANot listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.

What it is made from

Produced by electrolysing a potassium bromide solution. It is intended to be fully converted to bromide during baking; the regulatory question concerns what remains when it is not.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
InChIKey
OCATYIAKPYKMPG-UHFFFAOYSA-M
PubChem
CID 23673461

Every name it appears under

23 recorded names. A label may use any of them.

E number

  • E924

CAS registry number

  • 7758-01-2

As it appears in regulation

  • Potassium bromate

Other names

  • 0.033M Potassium bromate
  • 0.033M Potassium Bromate according to European Pharmacopoeia 4.2.2.
  • BrKO3
  • Bromate, potassium
  • Bromic acid, potassium salt
  • Bromic acid, potassium salt (1:1)
  • CCRIS 529
  • EEC No. E924
  • HSDB 1253
  • Kaliumbromat
  • POTASSIUM BROMATE
  • Potassium bromate ACS reagent
  • Potassium bromate(DOT)
  • Potassium bromate(V) (KBrO3)
  • potassium bromate-bromide
  • potassium bromate/potassium bromide
  • potassium trioxidobromate(1-)
  • potassium trioxobromate
  • Reagecon Potassium Bromate 0.01667M according to Chinese Pharmacopoeia (ChP)
  • Reagecon Potassium Bromate 0.1N according to United States Pharmacopoeia (USP)

Hazard reference values

No reference value for this substance in the sources we hold.

Evidence and how bodies read it

Studies, and the differing conclusions regulators drew from them, are curated by hand rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.

Sources for this page

  • ecfr retrieved 2026-09-07

Full licence terms and publisher details on Sources. How this page is built and updated: Method.

Machine-readable:/api/v1/additives/potassium-bromate.json