Canada Bans BVO as a Food Additive
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Following a health assessment of brominated vegetable oil (BVO), Health Canada has revoked its authorization for use as a food additive.
Health Canada is providing a transition period, ending August 30, 2025, to allow impacted products to be reformulated and relabeled, since the updated safety assessment did not find an immediate health concern with the current permitted use of BVO as a food additive.
Health Canada reviews the safety of permitted food additives when it receives a submission requesting an extension of use of an already permitted food additive, or when there is an emerging scientific development about the safety of an additive. The outcome of the updated safety assessment of BVO does not support its use as a food additive, and Health Canada did not receive any new safety information during the allotted comment period for the proposal to remove the chemical from the List of Permitted Food Additives.
Therefore, Health Canada has modified the List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Accepted Uses by removing brominated vegetable oil as proposed.
Health Canada’s decision follows the same decision made by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August 2024, when FDA revoked its authorization of the use of BVO in food due to studies showing the potential for adverse health effects to humans.
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