The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has introduced a nationwide ban on the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) as an additive in food.
A vegetable oil that has bromine added to it, BVO is used in small amounts to keep the citrus flavouring from floating to the top in some soft drinks.
Already banned in Europe and Japan, the FDA’s move followed a ban introduced in California – the first US state to ban the additive – in October under the California Food Safety Act.
After first proposing the ban in November, the agency had concluded that the use of BVO in food was no longer considered safe following the result of research conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which found the potential for adverse health effects in humans.
“The FDA is taking this action as part of our regulatory authority over ingredients added to food, which includes re-assessing previously evaluated food ingredients and addressing safety concerns,” the agency said on 2 July.
“Re-assessing the safety of food ingredients as new, relevant data becomes available, is a priority for the FDA and a key part of our food safety mission.”
The FDA has regulated BVO as a food additive since its removal from the codified list of Generally Recognized As Safe or “GRAS” substances in 1970.
As authorised, it was used in small amounts to keep the citrus flavouring from floating to the top in some beverages, and manufacturers were required to list BVO, or the specific brominated vegetable oil such as brominated soyabean oil, in the ingredients list if it had been used.
Few soft drinks in the USA currently contain BVO, according to the FDA.
Coca-Cola, for example, announced it had stopped using BVO in its drinks in 2014, The Guardian wrote at the time.
Although the rule takes effect on 2 August, the FDA said the date for compliance was one year after that to allow companies the opportunity to reformulate, relabel and remove the inventory of BVO-containing products before the final rule was enforced.
