Home › Ingredients › Brominated vegetable oil (BVO)
Is brominated vegetable oil (BVO) safe?
- US: FDA revoked BVO's food authorisation in 2024 over possible thyroid effects — enforcement in full effect since August 2025
- EU, UK, India, Japan: never on the permitted additive lists
- WHO's experts (1970): refused to set a safe intake — said it shouldn't be used without safety evidence
- LabelCop: high-risk flag on any label it appears on — strictest regulator wins
What is brominated vegetable oil?
- Vegetable oil chemically bonded with bromine — the same element family as chlorine and iodine
- One job in food: keeping citrus flavour oils evenly mixed in fizzy drinks so the flavour doesn't float to the top
- Label names: brominated vegetable oil, BVO, E443 / INS 443
Which drinks used it?
- Citrus-flavoured sodas and sports drinks — historically Mountain Dew and Powerade, both reformulated years before the US revocation
- Sun Drop — one of the last major US brands with BVO, reformulated during 2024
- Some smaller and store-brand citrus sodas in the US were the final holdouts before the August 2025 compliance deadline
- In India: BVO is not a permitted additive, so it shouldn't appear on domestic labels — older imported citrus drinks were the main way to encounter it
What the regulators actually say
| Regulator | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| FDA (United States) | Authorisation revoked (2024) | The FDA revoked BVO's food authorisation in July 2024, concluding it could no longer find "a reasonable certainty of no harm" after a study run with the US National Institutes of Health found effects on the thyroid. Effective 2 August 2024; companies had until 2 August 2025 to reformulate and sell through stock. |
| European Union & UK | Not authorised | BVO is not on the EU's list of authorised food additives (Regulation 1333/2008), and the UK's inherited list is the same — it cannot legally be added to food in either. |
| FSSAI (India) | Not permitted | BVO is not on FSSAI's list of permitted food additives, so it cannot legally be used in food sold in India. |
| WHO / JECFA | No safe intake set (1970) | The joint FAO/WHO expert committee declined to set an acceptable daily intake, citing missing long-term safety data and heart-tissue changes in high-dose animal studies, and concluded BVO should not be used as a food additive in the absence of safety evidence. The Codex international food standards include no provision for it. |
| Health Canada | Moved to remove (2024) | Canada was one of the last places permitting BVO in citrus drinks. Following the FDA's action, Health Canada published a proposal in 2024 to remove BVO from its list of permitted food additives. |
The 54-year gap — why this story matters
- 1970: the FDA removes BVO from its "generally recognised as safe" list — but permits it on an interim basis at low levels while more data is gathered
- 1970: the WHO's expert committee reviews the same evidence and concludes BVO shouldn't be used at all without proof of safety
- Decades pass: the "interim" authorisation quietly persists; most other regulators never allow BVO in the first place
- 2022–2024: new FDA–NIH research finds bromine builds up in body tissue and affects the thyroid in animal studies → the FDA revokes the authorisation
- The lesson: "legal" can mean "still on an interim permission from 1970". That's why LabelCop reads what regulators actually concluded — not just what's currently allowed on the shelf
- BVO is a high-risk flag in LabelCop
- Why: the United States banned it from food in 2024 over possible thyroid effects, and it is also not allowed in the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan or India
- Rule: strictest regulator wins — if it appears on any label anywhere, we flag it
- You see the flag, the reason and the sources. No black box
Frequently asked questions
Is BVO banned in the US?
Yes. The FDA revoked its food authorisation in July 2024 over possible thyroid effects, effective 2 August 2024, with a one-year sell-through period. Since 2 August 2025, BVO-containing food and drinks can no longer legally be sold in the US.
Is BVO allowed in India?
No. It is not on FSSAI's permitted additive list, so it cannot legally be used in food sold in India. Check imported citrus drinks — that was historically the main route onto Indian shelves.
Do Mountain Dew or Powerade still contain it?
No — both removed BVO years before the US revocation. Sun Drop, one of the last major users, reformulated during 2024.
Why did the US allow it for 54 years after the WHO's experts objected?
The FDA moved it to an "interim" permitted status in 1970 pending more data — and that interim status simply persisted. New FDA–NIH thyroid research published from 2022 finally triggered the 2024 revocation.
How do I spot it on a label?
Look for "brominated vegetable oil", "BVO" or INS 443 in the ingredients list — most likely on older stock or imported citrus drinks. LabelCop flags it automatically on any label you scan.
LabelCop reads any drink label you photograph and flags additives like BVO instantly — no barcode needed.
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FDA (2024): revocation of the regulation allowing BVO in food · US Federal Register (2024): final rule, effective and compliance dates · WHO/JECFA (1970): brominated vegetable oils evaluation — no ADI · EU food additives database (Regulation 1333/2008) — authorised additives list · Health Canada (2024): proposal to remove BVO from the permitted list · FSSAI: Food Safety and Standards regulations — permitted additives
Related ingredients: Potassium bromate (E924) · Red 3 / Erythrosine (E127) · Sunset yellow (E110)
This article explains regulatory status and published scientific assessments in plain English. It is not medical advice.