As the ever-growing list of ingredients on nutrition labels becomes increasingly complex, detailing a slew of chemicals that even the most health-savvy consumers could overlook, New York State is blowing the whistle and pushing for state-level reforms.

The most recent efforts by health experts and New York lawmakers, who say the federal government has been inadequate at addressing food safety concerns, involve bans on several cancer-causing chemicals, including one commonly used to make a New York staple — pizza.

Potassium bromate, a chemical compound that acts as an oxidizing agent and helps dough rise quicker and more efficiently, is a little-known ingredient added to flours used by many pizzerias.

While it has a small, measurable impact on the speed and consistency of the pizza-making process, it does not have any impact on the taste of the pizza itself.

Many standard flours used for New York-style pizza are bromated, including All Trumps — one of the more common varieties used for pizza — and several other General Mills-branded alternatives.

In 1990, a study by a team of Japanese researchers revealed potassium bromate was carcinogenic to rats . In 1999, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) categorized potassium bromate as “ possibly carcinogenic to humans .”

The European Union promptly banned the chemical upon the initial discovery in 1990. Canada notably followed suit in 1994, as well as China in 2005 and India in 2016.

The U.S., on the other hand, has yet to formally ban the chemical despite dozens of other countries taking action decades ago.

Some experts attribute the U.S.’s inaction to industry lobbying, while others believe it’s because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is underfunded and slow to review hundreds of other entries on its growing list of food chemicals.

One pizzeria owner, Chris Cutillo, suggested the reluctance among pizza makers to switch to non-bromated flour might have something to do with consistency. Other restaurant owners, he continued, might just be unaware of the chemical’s presence in the first place.

At the end of the day, he said there is always concern among business owners that making any changes might impact their bottom line.

“This business is what bought them their house, pays for their family — it’s scary,” he said. “It throws a wrench into things, and it’s not easy to change it. Some guys have been here for 40 years.”

Cutillo, the owner of Austin Street Pizza in Forest Hills , explained that potassium bromate can shave off a few minutes from the pizza-making process and more reliably ensure the dough rises uniformly.

However, Cutillo himself said he has never used flour that contains potassium bromate at Austin Street. Simply put, he just didn’t feel he needed it.

“I like eating clean food,” he said. “The only ingredient I like my flour bag to say is ‘wheat.’”