Due to concerns about harms to human health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed to revoke the regulation that authorizes the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food. The agency also announced its intent to review three other possibly toxic, FDA-regulated food additives that were recently banned in the state of California, specifically: red dye 3, propylparaben, and potassium bromate. A review of red dye 3 is currently underway.
FDA’s BVO decision is based on agency research conducted in collaboration with the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ (NIEHS’) Division of Translational Toxicology, which resolved toxicological data gaps about the additive. Data from the studies show adverse health effects from BVO in animals at levels that closely approximate real-world human exposure.