BBC News, 6
May 2014
Powerade's fruit punch and strawberry lemonade flavours no longer contain BVO |
Related
Stories
The world's
largest beverage-maker, Coca-Cola, plans to remove a controversial ingredient
from some of its drinks brands by the end of this year, following an online
petition.
Brominated
vegetable oil, or BVO, is found in Coca-Cola fruit and sports drinks such as
Fanta and Powerade.
An element
of the additive, also found in flame retardants, could have negative health
effects, activists say.
Rival Pepsi
removed the chemical from its Gatorade sports drink last year.
A Pepsi
spokesman said it also had wider plans to stop using BVO and had "been
actively working to remove it from the rest of our product portfolio".
Pepsi uses
the ingredient in its Mountain Dew and Amp Energy drinks sold in the US.
'Safe'
Coca-Cola
spokesman Josh Gold stressed the move to remove BVO was not an issue of safety.
"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," he said
in a statement.
"The
safety and quality of our products is our highest priority."
BVO has
been used as a stabiliser in fruit-flavoured drinks as it helps to prevent
ingredients from separating.
The health
concerns stem from the fact BVO contains bromide, which is found in brominated
flame retardants.
According
to medical researchers at the Mayo Clinic, excessive consumption of soft drinks
containing BVO has been linked to negative health effects, including reports of
memory loss and skin and nerve problems.
BVO was
dropped from the US Food and Drug Administration's "Generally Recognized
as Safe" list of food ingredients in 1970.
However,
drinks companies are allowed to use BVO at up to 15 parts per million.
In Japan
and the European Union, the use of BVO as a food additive is not allowed.
Food
activism
Coca-Cola
said it would switch to using sucrose acetate isobutyrate or glycerol ester of
rosin, which is commonly found in chewing gum.
The
Atlanta-based company said two flavours of its Powerade sports drink - fruit
punch and strawberry lemonade - have already replaced BVO with glycerol ester
of rosin.
Coca-Cola's
decision to remove BVO from its drink reflects a growing move among companies
to reconsider certain practices due to public pressure.
The
campaign against the use of BVO was begun by Sarah Kavanagh, a teenager from
Mississippi, who questioned why the ingredient was being used in drinks
targeted at health-conscious athletes.
Thousands
of people have since signed her online petition on Change.org to have BVO
removed from drinks.
Following
Monday's announcement by Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Ms Kavanagh was quoted as saying:
"It's really good to know that companies, especially big companies, are
listening to consumers.''
Related Articles:
No comments:
Post a Comment