Say goodbye to BVO. The FDA announced Tuesday that brominated vegetable oil, the controversial ingredient found in some citrus-flavored soft drinks, will no longer be allowed in food or beverages in the US due to safety concerns. Used to keep citrus flavoring from rising to the top of drinks, the ingredient includes bromine, a naturally occurring chemical that's denser than water and, when combined with vegetable oil, ensures certain ingredients are evenly distributed through a liquid, per Live Science. A 2022 study found that rats fed BVO accumulated bromine in their blood and tissues and suffered damage to the thyroid, a gland that helps regulate the body's metabolic rate, growth, and development.
Already banned in the European Union and Japan, BVO is also linked to nervous system damage, headaches, irritations of the skin and mucous membrane, fatigue, memory lapses, and loss of muscle coordination, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit consumer health advocacy group, per CNN. In proposing a ban last year, the FDA said studies "clearly show adverse health effects" in animals. It added that "animal and human data, including new information from recent FDA-led studies on BVO, no longer provide a basis to conclude the use of BVO in food is safe," per the Washington Post.
The ban goes into effect Aug. 2, though manufacturers will have a year from that date to "reformulate, relabel, and deplete the inventory of BVO-containing products before the FDA begins enforcing the final rule," the agency says. Many companies have already phased out the ingredient. BVO was removed from Pepsi's Gatorade and Coca-Cola's Powerade more than a decade ago, though it's still found in "some store-brand orange, pineapple and citrus-flavored sodas from Giant, Food Lion, Walmart, and others," per the Post. Keurig Dr Pepper, the maker of Sun Drop soda, which includes BVO, previously said it was reformulating the drink. (California previously moved to ban BVO by 2027 as a stopgap measure.)
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