Washington State Will Soon Ban This Key Ingredient in Orange Soda

I'll admit it, one of my vices is soda pop. I love it and I do know that some of the ingredients might not be that healthy for you but the FDA has announced they are banning one component of orange soda after all these years.

Since the 1930s, some citrus sodas have been flavored with an additive called BVO and the FDA will soon be banning the additive according to sciencealert.com.

What is BVO you ask?

Get our free mobile app

Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) is a food additive in citrus-flavored soft drinks, allowing the flavoring to be evenly distributed throughout the beverage. It's made by bonding bromine atoms to molecules of vegetable oil.

However, BVO has raised some health concerns. Bromine is a halogen, and excessive consumption of bromine compounds like BVO has been associated with negative health effects, including neurological and thyroid issues.

Due to these concerns, the use of BVO in food and beverages has been restricted or banned in several countries.

In the United States, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has limited the use of BVO, allowing it only in certain quantities deemed safe for consumption but the FDA in November proposed to revoke the registration of BVO in the United States after all these years.

The good news for consumers is that Pepsi and Coke, the big manufacturers of soda pop, have already been phasing BVO out of their ingredients for the last 10 years so BVO might soon be an ingredient of the past as BVO won't be needed in the making of citrus soda in the United States.

Score one for the FDA after all these years.