WEDNESDAY, July 3, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday withdrew regulations allowing the use of brominated vegetable oils in food after concluding the additive is not safe for human consumption.
Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) contains bromine, a flame retardant. Small amounts of BVO are legally used in some citrus beverages in the United States to help maintain a consistent flavor, the FDA said in a news release announcing the ban, which goes into effect on August 2.
The agency first proposed a ban in November last year, but according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, BVO was banned in the UK in 1970, then in India in 1990, the EU in 2008 and Japan in 2010.
In 1970, the FDA concluded that BVO was not generally recognized as safe for use in food due to toxicity concerns. According to Reuters, following that decision, the FDA began regulating BVO as a food additive and began safety studies, the results of which led to the ban.
Some experts say the ban was needed long ago.
“FDA Decision to Ban Brominated Vegetable Oils [BVO] “Banning this additive from our food is a victory for public health, but it is shameful that decades of regulatory failure have gone unchecked to protect consumers from this dangerous chemical,” Scott Farber, senior vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, said in a statement.
“It is outrageous that Americans have been ingesting a chemical that is banned in Europe and Japan for years. FDA’s delayed action on BVO highlights the urgent need for more rigorous and timely oversight of food additives,” Farber added.
According to the FDA, many beverage manufacturers have already replaced BVO with alternative ingredients, and “very few beverages in the United States contain BVO,” the FDA noted.
For more information
The FDA has more information on brominated vegetable oils.
Sources: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, news release, July 2, 2024; Environmental Working Group, statement, July 2, 2024; Reuters
