azodicarbonamide

plural azodicarbonamides

1. countableuncountablechemistryAn organic chemical, a yellow to orange red, odorless, crystalline powder, used in the food industry as a food additive, flour bleaching agent and improving agent, and in foaming plastics.

   To protest the sandwich chain’s use of azodicarbonamide in its bread, Ms. Hari posted a video of herself chewing another item in which the chemical is found: a yoga mat.

   2015 March 13, Courtney Rubin, “Taking On the Food Industry, One Blog Post at a Time”, in The New York Times

   1 more example

   Azodicarbonamide partially breaks down on heating into semicarbazide, which has shown some indications of causing cancer (in animal at high doses). Is it harmful in foods? That's an interesting and important question. Reasonable people differ on the subject. It should be looked into. But the fact that azodicarbonamide is also, separately, independently, and for other reasons, used to make rubber shoes simply has no connection to the question. It's like saying that you shouldn't drink water because it is a powerful solvent used in the chemical industry to dilute acids.

   2014, Theodore Gray, photography by Nick Mann, Molecules: The Elements and the Architecture of Everything, 2018 Paperback Edition, page 224

   Synonyms: azobisformamide, E927