Highly toxic soda ingredient, banned by the FDA in 2024, is still being used today

For nearly a century, brominated vegetable oil – better known as BVO – helped keep that sharp, zesty taste of citrus-flavored sodas evenly distributed from the first sip to the last.

Most shoppers never noticed the name on ingredient lists, and few paused to wonder why a cooking oil had been blended with bromine, a heavy chemical element more often associated with pool disinfectants than with beverages.

Over the past year, though, BVO has moved from obscurity into the spotlight. New toxicology studies forced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take a hard second look at an additive it once allowed at up to 15 parts per million.

The agency’s verdict set off a countdown: all sodas sold after August 2, 2025, must be BVO-free, shutting the door on a substance that first slipped into fizz back in the 1930s.

Citrus sodas and BVO

Public worries about brominated vegetable oil started decades ago, when researchers spotted bromine accumulating in human tissue samples taken in the United Kingdom during the 1970s. Animal studies soon linked high BVO intakes with heart and behavioral problems.

Even so, the FDA kept the ingredient on a short leash rather than banning it outright, capping concentrations and labeling it “interim” while scientists gathered more data. The arrangement limped along for half a century.

Fresh evidence tipped the scale. A 90-day study funded by the FDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) tracked rats fed diets ranging from zero to high levels of BVO.

Bromine not only flooded their bloodstreams but also settled in the heart, liver, and body fat. Thyroid cells enlarged, thyroid-stimulating hormone climbed, and T4 hormone dipped, hinting at metabolic trouble ahead.

Why brominated oils raised alarms

Thyroid shifts matter because that small gland choreographs energy levels, growth, and mood. When bromine crowds out iodine – its chemical cousin – hormone production stumbles.

Researchers worry that even subtle, long-term interference could nudge people toward weight gain, sluggishness, and brain fog.

Because bromine accumulates rather than being flushed straight through, the risk grows the longer someone drinks BVO-laced sodas.

Most major brands ditched BVO years ago. PepsiCo pulled it from Gatorade in 2013 and from Mountain Dew soon after. Coca-Cola quietly reformulated Fanta and Powerade.

Yet store-brand and regional citrus sodas sometimes clung to the old recipe. In mid-2024, Keurig Dr. Pepper still listed BVO in Sun Drop, though the company pledged to roll out a new formula before year’s end.

FDA ruling’s impact on BVO sodas

James Jones, deputy commissioner for human foods, summed up the agency’s thinking: “The proposed action is an example of how the agency monitors emerging evidence and, as needed, conducts scientific research to investigate safety-related questions, and takes regulatory action when the science does not support the continued safe use of additives in foods.”

The final rule arrived on July 3, 2024, and became effective a month later, with a one-year grace period to drain warehouses and reset production lines.

Between now and August 2, 2025, shoppers can still run into cans made before the deadline.

The safest approach is old-fashioned label reading – look for “brominated vegetable oil” or “brominated soybean oil.” After that date, any product that still lists the additive will be pulled from shelves.

How beverage makers responded

For companies, swapping out BVO meant finding other ways to keep citrus oils suspended. Many turned to ingredients already common in European and Japanese drinks, where BVO has been banned for years.

Sucrose acetate isobutyrate and glycerol ester of wood rosin (GEWR) emerged as the go-to solutions; both create a dense phase that marries well with fruit oils without relying on bromine.

Because the substitutes have long safety records abroad, the transition proved smoother than earlier label rewrites involving artificial dyes.

Retailers responded in parallel. National grocery chains began flagging private-label SKUs that needed reformulation, giving suppliers early notice.

Craft soda makers, eager to stand out in a crowded aisle, advertised “BVO-free” right on the front of the bottle, turning regulatory compliance into a selling point.

What science says about BVO

Several studies over the years had very similar results. Bromine lodged in organs after only three months, a blip compared with human drinking habits that can stretch across decades.

The thyroid, sensitive to iodine balance, responded quickly. Researchers did not observe tumors or acute poisoning, but the hormonal disruptions alone convinced regulators that routine consumption no longer passed the sniff test.

Back in the 1950s, the FDA first labeled BVO “generally recognized as safe,” largely because citrus sodas were already popular.

By 1970, the agency had reversed its stance, restricting use to citrus drinks and setting the 15-parts-per-million ceiling. Subsequent studies, including one published on May 16, 2022, in Food and Chemical Toxicology, kept adding red flags.

Taken together, the evidence portrays a slow-burn risk rather than an immediate hazard – yet that is exactly the kind of threat public health agencies try to prevent.

Changes in the U.S. food code

The BVO saga hints at future shake-ups in the U.S. food code. The FDA is reassessing a roster of additives, with an eye toward automatic bans on colorants that cause cancer in animals.

Speeding up that process would spare consumers from the long twilight period BVO endured.

For beverage developers, the lesson is clear: lean on ingredients with global acceptance, and keep an eye on toxicology journals as closely as on flavor-trend reports.

By August 2025, American citrus sodas will taste the same to most palates, but the chemistry behind that flavor will have changed.

With no more swimming pool disinfectants like bromine in your beverages, the drink industry inches toward simpler, more transparent labels – something shoppers have been thirsting for as much as the fizz itself.

The full study was published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicity.

Read the The U.S. FDA ruling on BVO.

—–

Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.

Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

—–