If you’ve used a yoga mat, taken a phone out of protective padding, or lined an attic with foam insulation, you may have encountered the industrial chemicalazodicarbonamide, or ADA.
You could also unwittingly be eating ADA in bread and other baked goods.
The unwelcome sandwich ingredient ADA is the plastics industry’s “chemical foaming agent” of choice. It is mixed into polymer plastic gel to generate tiny gas bubbles. The result is a strong, light, spongy and malleable material.
ADA is also used in baked goods, because it helps make large quantities of dough easier to handle and puffs up the finished product. The chemical appears dozens of times in EWG’sFood Scores database, which rates 80,000 mostly packaged foods.
The Food and Drug Administration considers the synthetic additive ADAsafe for industrial bakers if it’s limited to45 parts per million in bread. But workers handling large volumes havereported respiratory symptoms and allergic reactions, according to the World Health Organization, or WHO.
The trouble with azodicarbonamide
Azodicarbonamidebreaks down completely during breadmaking. And two of the chemicals’ breakdown products – semicarbazide and urethane – are known to cause health problems.
Semicarbazide has been shown to cause cancer in mice. Urethane is known to causecancer and damage to the reproductive system.
WHO’s cancer research arm, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, has said urethane probably causescancer in humans.
ADA is not approved for use in either Australia or the European Union because of safety concerns and potential cancer concerns, and WHO reported that it causes kidney problems in animals.
The FDA has not thoroughly tested ADA’s potential to harm human health. It approved ADA as a food additive in 1962 as “generally recognized as safe.”
A brief history of ADA
In the early 1990s, ADA became the preferred dough conditioner of many American commercial bakers. It substituted for potassium bromate, another “flour improver,” after that substance appeared onCalifornia’s Proposition 65list of chemicals known to cause cancer or other harms.
A decade ago, EWG’sFood Scores showed ADA was widespread in supermarket items, as well as fast food. Under market pressure, many large companies stopped using ADA. In 2025, far fewer food items contain the chemical.
In 2023, potassium bromate, still used in some bread, was banned in all foods made or sold in California. But it’s not clear whether the use of ADA will expand as a result.
How to avoid ADA exposure
EWG recommends consumers take steps to avoid ADA in food. It’s not a necessary ingredient, and authorities question its safety. Occupational exposure also prompts concern. That’s why it appears on our2025 Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Chemicals, which provides information about the top 12 chemicals to avoid in food.
We shouldn’t have to shop our way out of this food chemical problem. The federal government should ban or restrict harmful substances, but it hasn’t.
States are stepping in to fill the gap. Lawmakers inTexas andNew York have introduced bills to ban ADA, in addition to other toxic food chemicals.
For now, here are steps you can take to lower your exposure to ADA:
Buy local. Small bakeries and similar businesses are less likely to use this chemical in their products.
Emphasize organics – ADA is not permitted inUSDA organic certified foods.
To find out whether the item you’re considering buying contains ADA, read ingredients labels on package baked goods such as bread, stuffing, cupcakes, pastries, croutons, buns and breadsticks. It can appear either spelled out or abbreviated.
Consult EWG’s freeFood Scores searchable database to find products without ADA.
Support legislative efforts in your state to ban ADA.
Back efforts to push manufacturers to get ADA out of the food they make.