Coca-Cola to Remove Controversial Drinks Ingredient from US Brands

Beverage giant Coca-Cola plans to remove an ingredient from some of its US drinks brands by the end of this year, according to reports. The decision follows an online petition against drinks producers’ use of the ingredient Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO).

BVO is found in Coca-Cola’s fruit and sports drinks, including Fanta and Powerade. Rival drinks giant Pepsi removed BVO from its Gatorade drink last year and it is reported to be planning to remove the ingredient from its full drinks range. Currently it uses BVO in its Mountain Dew and Amp Energy drinks in the US.

Japan and the European Union do not allow the use of BVO as a food additive but elsewhere it is used as a stabiliser in fruit-flavored drinks as it can help to prevent ingredients from separating.

The decision by producers to remove BVO was partially triggered by a Change.org online campaign, started by US teenager Sarah Kavanagh. In her campaign, which requested that BVO is removed from drinks, she stated: “I found out that this ‘BVO’ is a controversial flame retardant chemical that is in some Gatorade drinks! Who wants to drink that? Not me!”

Kavanagh’s petition reached more than 200,000 signatures, prompting Pepsi to remove BVO from its Gatorade product. This led to a new campaign by Kavanagh against Powerade (by Coca-Cola), accompanied by the statement: “I was excited to hear that Gatorade removed BVO after my Change.org petition, and I think its main competitor Powerade should do the same thing. Why would anyone concerned about sports and health want to drink a controversial chemical that’s not safe enough to use in Europe or Japan?”

Anti-BVO campaigners suggest excessive consumption of drinks containing the chemical has been linked to negative health effects, such as memory loss and skin problems. 

To date, Coca-Cola has already removed BVO from two flavors of its Powerade sports drink. The fruit punch and strawberry lemonade variants have had BVO replaced with glycerol ester of rosin.