This April, the 12 Subway restaurants in Chester County are featuring Flatizzas – six-inch mozzarella and marinara pizzas on super crispy flatbread with a variety of toppings.
But the big news for foodies is by the end of the month Subway will completely remove Azodicarbonamide (ADA) from its core bread formulations. Subway says it began the conversion to Azo-free (No Azodicarbonamide) bread in 2013, and the remaining supply should be completely sold-out this month.
According to the Environmental Working Group, ADA is a synthetic substance used by plastics makers to generate tiny bubbles that make materials light, spongy and strong. These materials show up in flip-flops, yoga mats and many types of foam packing and insulation. In 1956, a New Jersey pharmaceutical and engineering firm discovered that ADA could be used as a “dough conditioner” to make bread that would rise higher, stay soft and resilient and form an attractive crust. The federal Food and Drug Administration approved its use as a food additive six years later.
However, the World Health Organization has linked ADA to increased risk of respiratory problems and skin irritation in workers handling large volumes of the chemical. The additive has not undergone extensive testing to determine its health effects on humans.
Subway is not the only company with a Chester County connection to jump on the ban-the-yoga-mat chemical band wagon. Flowers Foods, parent company of Tastykake in Oxford, also makes Nature’s Own breads, buns and rolls and removed the additive in 2013.
“Our product development team is working to eliminate this additive from all our brand products,” according to Flowers Foods. “This is a priority for our company. We take the quality, purity, freshness, and safety of our bakery foods seriously and work continuously to ensure our products meet consumers’ needs.”
SUBWAY® , founded in 1965, is the world’s largest submarine sandwich chain with more than 41,636 restaurants in 104 countries.
The full report on ADA from the Environmental Working Group is here: http://www.ewg.org/release/yoga-mat-chemical-found-nearly-500-foods.
