Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have said that they are working to remove the controversial chemical brominated vegetable oil (BVO) from all their drinks following an online petition.
BVO is used by Coca-cola and PepsiCo to more stop citrus flavourings from separating in drinks such as Gatorade, Powerade, Mountain Dew, and Fanta in the US, and the companies maintain that it is a safe ingredient to consume. However, after constant public pressure they have finally agreed to remove it from their beverages.
In 2011, a report on the ingredient by Scientific American, where they noted that BVO had been patented in Japan as a flame retardant and was banned for use in food and drink products in the EU and Japan over health concerns.
This report caught the eye of Mississippi resident Sarah Kavanagh, who started an online petition to convince PepsiCo to remove the ingredient from Gatorade.
The petition receieved over 200,000 signatures and was so successful in getting PepsiCo to change their ways that she then started another petition to persuade Coca-Cola to follow suit with Powerade. This petition was also a success, and both companies have now agreed to change the ingredients due to public pressure.
These changes comes three months after sandwich chain Subway agreed to remove the yoga-mat chemical azodicarbonamide from its bread rolls after an online petition.
