Last fall, we came across two pieces of food news that made us fist pump the air. First, in October, California banned brominated vegetable oil (BVO)—along with red dye no. 3, propylparaben, and potassium bromate from use in foods and beverages. A month later, the Food and Drug Administration proposed to make BVO illegal in food on a national scale. 

These two headlines are a giant necessary step. BVO has always been bad news. And it has a storied past. 

A common food additive made of vegetable oil modified with bromine, BVO has been used since 1958 to stabilize citrus (and other fruit) flavoring oils in sodas, candies, and foods. (The additive lends a cloudy-like look to sodas.) The FDA initially gave it a GRAS status, generally recognized as safe (a modifier that sends chills up our spines). People successfully rallied to revoke this status in 1970 due to the spreading knowledge (and likely intuition of health-conscious people) that BVO may harm our health. So, what did the FDA do? It stated the BVO can be used but only in specific limited doses. (This means nothing because even if a drink company puts a specified limited amount of BVO in a drink, it still adds a toxic chemical to its product. Not to mention, people who consume more than one BVO-containing drink put themselves at risk of the cumulative effects that come from imbibing this chemical over and over.)

So, since 1958, BVO has been swimming in all its “generally recognized as safe” glory and filling the bellies of kids and adults. Meanwhile, more and more research has revealed its ugly impact, stating it causes headaches, skin irritation, and harm to the nervous system. “The risks of BVO have been known for decades,” the EWG reported in 2021. “A 1980s study showed that rats that consumed BVO up to 2 percent of their diet showed significant reproductive harm. An earlier study showed that rats that consumed diets containing brominated corn, cottonseed, olive, or sesame oil showed changes to the heart and liver. And in one instance, a man who consumed eight liters of Ruby Red Squirt daily for several months developed tender nodules on his hands and fingers.”

Some manufacturers have stepped up and (claim to have) removed BVO from their products, including PepsiCo. Still, the EWG states it is present in smaller soda brands and generic brands, such as Great Value products. (We’ll add here that the EU and Japan ban BVO for use in food.) 

All these gross, unnerving facts make the news of California banning it and the FDA proposing to ban it even more critical. But the catch? The California BVO ban won’t go into effect until 2027 as part of the California Food Safety Act. And the FDA news is merely a proposal. Nothing is set in stone, yet. Which means BVO continues to lurk in our food and drinks. It continues to harm our kids and wreak havoc on our nervous systems. So we must keep being vigilant, aware, and proactive by doing the following:

• Reading labels (watch out for brominated vegetable oil and any other artificial additives)

• Educating our friends and family about BVO

• Fighting back with our wallets by not purchasing from companies that do use BVO

• Calling your local and state Congresspeople to fight to have your state ban BVO (New York is another state setting a great example)

• Choosing fresh, unprocessed foods and beverages as much as possible. 

We won’t stop until BVO is history. We hope you join us in the fight.