{"id":848514,"date":"2026-06-06T13:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T13:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/848514\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T13:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T13:04:25","slug":"staten-island-pizzeria-ditches-cancer-linked-flour-ingredient-and-customers-cant-taste-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/848514\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island pizzeria ditches cancer-linked flour ingredient &#8212; and customers can&#8217;t taste the difference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The dough must go on.<\/p>\n<p>A Staten Island pizzeria owner spent months testing dough recipes, firing up more than 500 pies, to find one his customers couldn\u2019t distinguish from the original \u2014 all to get ahead of a New York State ban on a <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/06\/us-news\/new-yorkers-offer-mixed-topping-of-reactions-to-impending-ban-on-key-common-pizza-ingredient\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cancer-linked flour additive<\/a> used in pizza and bagels now awaiting Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n<p>John Caggiano, 54, who\u2019s run Il Forno in Pleasant Plains with his wife, Gwen, 50, for more than two decades, pulled <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/06\/us-news\/new-york-could-ban-common-ingredient-found-in-pizza-and-bagels-over-health-concerns\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">potassium bromate<\/a> from his kitchen after reading about its health risks \u2014 as the chemical that makes dough crisper and chewier is linked to cancer in animals and already banned in 40 countries including the European Union and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>John Caggiano got ahead of the potassium bromate ban and came up with a unique new pizza dough recipe. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI read all the information, and I said to myself, I\u2019m not going to be caught up serving pizza dough that\u2019s bad for my customers,\u201d Caggiano told The Post. \u201cIf it\u2019s bad for them, I\u2019m changing it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re family. And you don\u2019t feed your family something that\u2019s going to harm them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And despite the new flour costing twice as much, he\u2019s refusing to pass the expense onto customers. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not the way I do business with my loyal customers,\u201d said Caggiano.<\/p>\n<p>John and wife Gwen consider their customers family. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n<p>Caggiano has been making pizza pies since he was 15 years old. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n<p>While some pizza makers may be sweating over the possible ban that Hochul may or may not sign, Caggiano rolled up his sleeves, dusted off his apron and got to work making a new dough free of the additive linked to kidney damage, thyroid problems and certain cancers in laboratory animals, <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC9898660\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according the National Institutes of Health.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>During downtime in his cozy four-table pizzeria, Caggiano became a one-man pizza scientist. He devoured trade magazines, binge-watched baking videos and spent countless hours trying to crack the code on bromate-free dough that wouldn\u2019t leave customers feeling crust-fallen. <\/p>\n<p>The local pizza craftsman \u2014 famous around Staten island for his upside-down pie \u2014 tinkered with recipes, firing pie after pie into into the oven and recruiting a trusted tasting panel of family and friends.<\/p>\n<p>After hundreds of test pies, he finally struck gold with a hard-won recipe he\u2019s keeping to himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI actually like it better,\u201d Caggiano said. \u201cI told my wife that whether this law comes into effect or not, I prefer it. I don\u2019t want to knock anybody else for not doing it, but it\u2019s a good fit for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Caggiano works behind the counter at Il Forno. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n<p>Caggiano knows his way around pizza dough. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n<p>Il Forno Pizza in Staten Island is ready for anything New York lawmakers throw at them. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n<p>Customers who visit Il Forno are already in love with Caggiano\u2019s pizza making skills, which he\u2019s been honing since he was 15 years old.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat pizza is so damn good!\u201d one happy customer raved in a review.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat a gem this place is,\u201d said another. \u201cI live in Jersey now, but I still go back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And now, his devoted fans assure him that they can\u2019t taste the difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce I tried it out on them, they loved it,\u201d Caggiano said. \u2018It was airy, it was light.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before crossing the Verazzanno and planting roots on Staten Island, Caggiano owned a pizzeria in Brooklyn. But when the previous owner\u2019s son decided not to take over the family business, he saw an opportunity and made the move.<\/p>\n<p>The veteran pizza maker is keeping his saucy new formulas to himself. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post<\/p>\n<p>And he\u2019s never looked back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was one of the best decisions I\u2019ve made,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The dough must go on. A Staten Island pizzeria owner spent months testing dough recipes, firing up more&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":848515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,85755,235,11230,9062,5371,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,16564,16577,9294,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":["post-848514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-bans","tag-cancer","tag-chemicals","tag-food-safety","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-pizza","tag-recipes","tag-staten-island","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116703308574754551","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}