Coca-Cola to remove ingredient also found in flame retardants

A massive online petition has convinced Coca-Cola to remove brominated vegetable oil or BVO in its fruit and sports drinks.

16:48 06 May 2014

Coca-Cola, the world’s largest beverage maker has responded to a massive online petition and now plans to remove a controversial ingredient - Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) - from some of its drinks, such as Powerade and Fanta, by the end of this year. 

 

Rival company Pepsi removed the same ingredient from its products last year. 

 

Activists say that the controversial ingredient, which is also found in flame retardants, can make the drinks addictive. 

 

Coca-Cola said it would switch to using sucrose acetate isobutyrate or glycerol ester of rosin, which is commonly found in chewing gum.

 

Coca-Cola spokesman Josh Gold said in a statement: "All of our beverages, including those with BVO, are safe and always have been - and comply with all regulations in the countries where they are sold.”

 

"The safety and quality of our products is our highest priority."

 

In 1970, BVO was dropped from the US Food and Drug Administration’s “Generally Recognised as Safe” list of food ingredients. 

 

According to medical researchers at the Mayo Clinic, drinking soft drinks containing BVO has been linked to negative health effects including nerve problems and memory loss.