The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday (July 2) that it will ban the use of a soda additive starting from next month for health reasons.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the FDA said the regulatory agency has decided to revoke the authorization for the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in foods because this ingredient is “no longer considered safe.” The agency pointed out that research conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that BVO could have “potential adverse effects on human health.”
The revised regulation will come into effect on August 2.
Brominated vegetable oil is a chemical compound containing bromine, commonly found in flame retardants. In the United States, small amounts of BVO are legally used in some citrus-flavored drinks to help distribute flavor evenly. Food manufacturers typically add BVO to soda.
The FDA initially proposed banning the addition of BVO in food in November 2023, citing studies that found this additive to be toxic to the thyroid.
According to data from the non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy organization Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), some countries have already banned the use of BVO, with the UK starting in 1970, India in 1990, the EU in 2008, and Japan in 2010.
The FDA noted that many beverage manufacturers have reformulated their recipes to replace BVO with alternative ingredients. The agency also added that only a “minority” of beverages in the US still contain this additive.
Both PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company have already removed BVO from drinks like Gatorade and Fanta.
Jim Jones, Deputy Director of the Office of Food Additive Safety at the FDA, stated in a release that the agency is “committed to re-evaluating to ensure that our initial determination of safety remains valid over time.”