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.

Careful control of the type of oil used allows bromination of it to produce BVO with a specific density (1.33 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In the United States, BVO was designated in 1958, as generally recognized as safe (GRAS), but this was withdrawn by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1970.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;Powerade, Fanta Orange and Fresca made by Coca-Cola; and Squirt, Sun Drop and Sunkist Peach Soda, 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.

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