lauren sellers

You've made some good suggestions, Ben.  Would you consider calling King Arthur to speak with them about some of the questions you have presented? Of great importance is the first question you posed... what exactly is the “processing” used to make fungal alpha amylase, and what are the effects, intended or collateral?
I will never agree with their argument that their Frankenlab concoction is qualified to be labeled 'organic'.  Synthetic/lab-made is the exact opposite of the definition of organic.  Bottom line is that it is just not necessary and their customer base does not want fungus in their flour, in their food, destroying their health. So WHO suggested it and WHY?   This is where lack of transparency is a real problem.  Why put this additive in organic flour when there is no reason to and when to do so serves only to make the product non-organic, unhealthy, dangerous to consume for some folks and thereby not considered edible by their organic flour customer base.

Anne Miller, hi.  I just got off the phone with King Arthur Flour.  I explained to the person that took the call that adding a lab-made chemical additive to a flour that is labeled 'ORGANIC' is NOT organic.  It is the opposite of organic.  I told her that no one that purchases their organic flours wants this 'fungal additive' in their organic flour.  We buy organic flour and spend a lot more for it because we want a clean flour without additives!   The person I spoke to, Maria, didn't say anything much, mostly just listened in silence, and repeated what she is told to say, such as that the additive is 'certified organic'.  I explained to her that anything made in a lab is the opposite of organic.  When I asked who makes these decisions she said that King Arthur is employee-owned and that they take a vote on decisions (not sure if those were the exact words, but something to that effect, they all have a voice in the decisions).  

I told her that this is not acceptable and that there is a lot of talk about it online and there will be more talk coming online. People need to be made aware and especially...people need to contact King Arthur and request that they remove this fungal un-healthy additive from their organic flours.  

Regarding your question about whether it is barley flour or the enzyme additive, I believe it is an either/or.  I thought that the additive was only in the organic bread flour but I currently have an organic AP bag in the house that lists 'enzyme or barley malt flour' and an organic bread flour bag that doesn't mention the enzyme, just barley malt flour.  

Hopefully, they will remove the enzyme from their organic flours. Their reputation has been so good for so many decades but this is the sort of thing that will destroy that good reputation amongst the customers that buy organic flour to avoid harmful additives.

Please talk this up on social media and everywhere possible.  People need to be made aware.  

Thank you, Lisa, for your article.

Y'all.  Call King Arthur flour. Call their management!  We need a ton of people to call them and tell them to take the enzyme OUT!  It's isn't needed. We don't want it!!!  The only way to create change is to speak up, speak out, and OFTEN!