-
Cancer-causing substance in pizzas, burgers takes life out of Jubilant, Britannia, Westlife
Shares of franchisees of quick service restaurants (QSRs) such as Domino’s and McDonald’s dropped up to 10 per cent in Tuesday’s trade after the Union health ministry asked for a detailed report on the findings of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE ) that suggested presence of potassium bromate and potassium iodate in most bakery products.
Potassium bromate can cause cancer and is banned in most parts of the world, but not in India. Potassium iodate, on the other hand, can cause thyroid-related diseases.
According to the CSE report, KFC (part of the Yum chain of restaurants), Pizza Hut (Yum chain), Subway Systems and Green House & Hestsoft Foods (Slice of Italy) have denied use of potassium bromate or potassium iodate.
Breadmaker Britannia Industries, too, has denied its use in its products. But no response was received from Jubilant FoodWorks (Domino’s) so far.
The bread of McDonald’s McAloo tikki Burger had 1.23 ppm of potassium bromate/iodate, the study found. Shares of Westlife Development, a BSE-listed franchise of McDonald’s, slumped 19.9 per cent to hit a low of Rs 200, before staging a smart recovery. The stock was down 1 per cent at Rs 217.35 at the time of writing of this report.
Jubilant FoodWorks dropped 12.35 per cent to hit a low of Rs 975. The sample of Domino’s Margherita Pizza had 1.23 ppm and 1.18 ppm of potassium bromate/iodate, respectively.
Britannia Industries was down 1.28 per cent at Rs 2,646.
CSE’s pollution monitoring laboratory (PML) found residues of potassium bromate/iodate in over 84 per cent of bread and bakery samples sourced from Delhi.
“The use of potassium iodate as a flour treatment agent in breads should not be allowed by FSSAI. It is not recommended as a flour treatment agent in several countries due to possible higher intake of iodine, which can potentially affect the functioning of the thyroid gland,” it said. Josh Smith Womens Jersey
Share This
