Soda additive “no longer considered safe,” gets long-awaited FDA ban

After more than five decades of limbo, the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday revoked the authorization of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food, banning an additive long known to have toxic effects that is already banned in Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and California. That 15-ppm limit was authorized on an "interim basis," pending more safety studies. In 1970, the FDA revoked the GRAS designation for BVO, but continued to allow the 15-ppm limit—on an interim basis—given that safety studies "did not indicate an immediate health threat from the...