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.
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.
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.
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
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