Florida attorney general subpoenas food distributor for records on bromated flour sales

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has issued a civil investigative subpoena to Performance Food Group Inc. seeking records about four bakery flours made with potassium bromate, his office announced Friday, Oct. 16, 2026.¹ The release states: “This subpoena does not itself establish a violation of law.”¹

The office described the subpoena as the next step in learning how bromated flour moved through Florida’s foodservice market and whether buyers received the information they needed.¹ “We are following this additive from the bag of flour to the kitchen that serves Florida families,” Uthmeier said in the release.¹

What the subpoena seeks

According to the release, the subpoena asks for records from the company’s Miami and Orlando distribution centers showing which products containing the named flours were sold, who bought those products, who bought the flour itself, and what disclosures were given to buyers.¹ The four flours are:¹

• Pillsbury Potentate High Gluten Flour
• Pillsbury Best Bakers Patent Flour
• Gold Medal All Aces Bakery Flour
• Gold Medal Superlative Bakers Flour

The release says the company is among the top purchasers of bromated flour identified in the investigation.¹ Records are due Nov. 6, 2026, to the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division in Tampa, or electronically to investigators before then.¹

Performance Food Group lists its corporate address as Richmond, Virginia.² In its annual report for the fiscal year ended June 27, 2026, it says it markets and distributes more than 300,000 food and food-related products to customers across North America from more than 150 distribution centers.³ WINK News and WUSF did not report a response from the company.⁴⁵

The July subpoena

Uthmeier opened the inquiry July 13, 2026, with a civil subpoena under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act to General Mills Inc. and General Mills Operations LLC. That subpoena sought records on the same four 50-pound bulk flours, the top Florida buyers of those products from 2023 through 2026, disclosures to buyers, the company’s research on the additive, and any sales to Florida pre-K through 12th grade schools, according to the July release.⁶

What the additive is

The International Agency for Research on Cancer rates potassium bromate “possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B).” Its 1999 evaluation found inadequate evidence in humans and sufficient evidence in experimental animals.⁷

Federal rules allow its use. The Food and Drug Administration’s standard for bromated flour permits potassium bromate up to 50 parts per million of the finished flour, and a separate rule allows it in the malting of barley.⁸⁹ The attorney general’s release says the European Union, Canada, China, India, Brazil and other countries prohibit it in food.¹ WUSF, publishing a News Service of Florida story, reported that a 2023 California law bans foods containing potassium bromate starting in 2027.⁵

What the records do not show

• The release does not say that Performance Food Group, General Mills or anyone else broke a law, and a subpoena is a request for records, not a finding.
• The subpoena itself was not posted with either release, so its exact wording and the legal authority cited in October could not be checked.
• The releases do not give sales volumes, the number of Florida buyers or where the flour was used.
• Neither release says whether General Mills has responded to the July subpoena.
• The products named are sold to bakeries and food businesses; the releases do not identify any consumer product made with them.