Brominated vegetable oil

Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) is a complex mixture of plant-derived triglycerides that have been reacted to contain atoms of the element bromine bonded to the molecules. Brominated vegetable oil is used primarily to help emulsify citrus-flavored soft drinks, preventing them from separating during distribution. Brominated vegetable oil has been used by the soft drink industry since 1931, generally at a level of about 8 ppm. Brominated vegetable oil (BVO) is a complex mixture of plant-derived triglycerides that have been reacted to contain atoms of the element bromine bonded to the molecules. Brominated vegetable oil is used primarily to help emulsify citrus-flavored soft drinks, preventing them from separating during distribution. Brominated vegetable oil has been used by the soft drink industry since 1931, generally at a level of about 8 ppm. Careful control of the type of oil used allows bromination of it to produce BVO with a specific density of 1.33 g/mL, which is noticeably greater than that of water (1 g/mL). As a result, it can be mixed with less-dense flavoring agents such as citrus flavor oil to produce a resulting oil whose density matches that of water or other products. The droplets containing BVO remain suspended in the water rather than separating and floating at the surface. Alternative food additives used for the same purpose include sucrose acetate isobutyrate (SAIB, E444) and glycerol ester of wood rosin (ester gum, E445). In the United States, BVO was designated in 1958 as generally recognized as safe (GRAS), but this was withdrawn by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1970. The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations currently imposes restrictions on the use of BVO as a food additive in the United States, limiting the concentration to 15 ppm, limiting the amount of free fatty acids to 2.5 percent, and limiting the iodine value to 16. BVO is used in Mountain Dew, manufactured by PepsiCo and Sun Drop, made by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Numerous generic citrus sodas also use it, including 'Clover Valley'/Dollar General sodas and Stars & Stripes. On May 5, 2014, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo said they will remove BVO from their products. BVO is one of four substances that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has defined as interim food additives; the other three are acrylonitrile copolymers, mannitol, and saccharin. An online petition at Change.org asking PepsiCo to stop adding BVO to Gatorade and other products collected over 200,000 signatures by January 2013. The petition pointed out that since Gatorade is sold in countries where BVO is not approved, there is already an existing formulation without this ingredient. PepsiCo announced in January 2013, that it would no longer use BVO in Gatorade, and announced May 5, 2014, that it would discontinue use in all of its drinks, including Mountain Dew. However, as of February 20, 2019, BVO is still an ingredient in Mountain Dew, Sun Drop, and AMP Energy Drinks. BVO is currently permitted as a food additive in Canada. In the European Union, BVO is banned from use as a food additive. In the EU, beverage companies commonly use glycerol ester of wood rosin or locust bean gum as an alternative to BVO. Standards for soft drinks in India have prohibited the use of BVO since 1990.