Goodbye brominated vegetable oil

Brominated vegetable oil (BVO), an ingredient once widely used to prevent citrus flavoring from floating to the top of beverages, “is no longer considered safe,” the US Food and Drug Administration says in a rule finalized July 2.

The rule bans BVO as an additive in food and beverages sold in the US, effective Aug. 2. But the FDA says it won’t enforce the ban until August 2025, to give industry time to reformulate and use up existing supplies of products that contain BVO.

Major beverage manufacturers have already stopped using BVO in their products, but some off-brand orange sodas and juices still contain the ingredient, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group.

The FDA’s decision to ban BVO was prompted by a study in rats that linked oral consumption of the chemical to increased bromine levels in several tissues and adverse effects on the thyroid (Food Chem. Toxicol. 2022, DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2022.113137).

“Reassessing the safety of chemicals that have been previously authorized for use in or with foods, as new, relevant data become available, is a priority for the FDA,” Jim Jones, deputy commissioner for human foods at the FDA, says in a statement.

Advocacy groups welcome the BVO ban but say the FDA should have done it decades ago.

The European Union banned the ingredient in 2008, and Japan followed suit in 2010. “The FDA’s belated action on BVO underscores the urgent need for more rigorous and timely oversight of food additives,” Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, says in a statement.