Health Canada gives 1 year to remove BVO from drinks. What are the risks?

Brominated vegetable oil, a food additive used in citrus-flavoured soft drinks, has now been banned in Canada, but consumers could still see it popping up on ingredient labels for one more year.

Health Canada removed BVO from its list of permitted food additives on Aug. 30 after completing a safety assessment.

“The outcome of the assessment does not support BVO continuing to be permitted for use as a food additive,” the agency said in a statement last month.

Since its updated safety analysis “did not find an immediate health concern with the current permitted use of BVO as a food additive,” Health Canada said it will give a one-year transition period, which ends on Aug. 30, 2025, “to allow impacted products to be reformulated and relabeled.”

That means, a maximum BVO level of 15 parts per million (ppm) in beverages, which is equivalent to 15 milligrams per litre, will continue to be permitted.

Health Canada’s decision to ban BVO is in line with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which did the same in July.

Its use was already prohibited in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

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BVO is a vegetable oil that is used in small amounts as a stabilizing agent for fruit flavouring in drinks, according to the FDA.

It helps to keep the citrus flavouring evenly mixed and not float to the top.

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Health Canada says BVO is used in beverages that contain citrus or spruce oils.

Sometimes, BVO is listed as “brominated soybean oil” on ingredient labels.

It is mostly found in sodas, but may also be used in fruit drinks.

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Several big beverage makers, such as PepsiCo and Coco-Cola, have stopped using BVO in their products.

A Coca-Cola company spokesperson told Global News that BVO was phased out of its products several years ago and is currently on its restricted list for additives.

PepsiCo said it “does not produce or distribute any products with BVO.”

This food additive is still not completely off the shelves, though.

Sun Drop citrus sodas produced by Keurig Dr Pepper use BVO, according to its website.

Walmart brand Great Value’s orange soda also lists “brominated soybean oil” in its ingredients.

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Some animal research suggests that BVO could have adverse health effects on humans.

Health Canada states that “previous laboratory studies had reported adverse effects on certain organs, for example the liver, heart or thyroid, of animals orally given BVO, but these effects were seen at much higher doses than humans would get from beverages that contain BVO as a food additive.”

A 2022 study conducted by the FDA and the National Institutes of Health that was published in the Food and Chemical Toxicology journal also suggested that consuming BVO could negatively impact the thyroid.

The thyroid gland influences almost all of the metabolic processes in the human body through the hormones it produces, according to WebMD.

Excessive BVO accumulation in the body could also result in “bromine toxicity, which causes damage to the central nervous system, headaches, nausea, memory loss, and loss of coordination,” the Centre for Science in the Public Interest said.

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In Canada, companies that use BVO have until Aug. 30 of next year to phase out this food additive and replace it with something else.

Health Canada said that industry feedback confirmed that a one-year transition period is “appropriate” to allow impacted product to be reformulated and relabelled.

Until that time, consumers can avoid BVO-containing beverages by checking the labels.

Alternatives to BVO that may be used as stabilizing agents are sucrose acetate isobutyrate (SAIB), glycerol ester of wood rosin, modified cellulose, acacia gum and locust bean gum.