Gatorade to remove controversial brominated vegetable oil

The sports drink Gatorade (AP Photo)

NEW YORK -- PepsiCo Inc. is removing a controversial ingredient from its Gatorade sports drink in response to customer complaints.

A spokeswoman for the company, Molly Carter, said Friday that the move was in the works for the past year after the company began "hearing rumblings" from consumers about the ingredient, called brominated vegetable oil. She said it wasn't a response to a recent petition on Change.org by a Mississippi teenager.

The ingredient is also listed in other drinks, including some flavours of Powerade, made by rival Coca-Cola Co. The Atlanta-based company did not say whether it would remove the ingredient from Powerade as well but noted that it takes customers' concerns into account when looking for ways to improve its drinks.

Ingredients in food and drinks have come under greater scrutiny in recent years, helped by the ability of consumers to mobilize online. The petition on Change.org noted that brominated vegetable oil has been patented as a flame retardant and is banned in Japan and the European Union. It had more than 200,000 supporters Friday.

For Gatorade, Carter said the ingredient is used as an "emulsifier," meaning it distributes flavouring more evenly so that it doesn't collect at the surface. She said it was used only in select flavours including such as orange and citrus. Brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, is still used in other drinks, including Coca-Cola's Fanta and PepsiCo's Mountain Dew.

Carter noted that the ingredient is not banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and that the decision wasn't the result of any health or safety concerns. She said it was to address concerns expressed specifically by Gatorade customers.

PepsiCo is replacing BVO in Gatorade with an ingredient called sucrose acetate isobutyrate, which will maintain the flavour and taste of the drinks.

PepsiCo's decision to remove the ingredient from Gatorade was first reported by the trade journal Beverage Digest.