Coca Cola has decided to drop the ingredient brominated vegetable oil from all of its soft drinks following a petition by 17-year-old Sarah Kavanagh on change.org. The teenager from Mississippi took her cause to the website to have the ingredient, which can be used as a flame retardant, removed from Powerade and Gatorade. Coca cola has decided to go a step beyond, and remove the ingredient from all of their soft drinks in the United States and in other countries. The ingredient is used as a binding agent to keep ingredients from separating. While Coca Cola maintains that the ingredient is not harmful, the company has decided to remove it in light of the controversy.
Changing Ingredients
Instead of the brominated vegetable oil, Coca Cola will begin using glycerol ester of rosin and sucrose acetate isobutyrate to stabilize the drinks and keep ingredients bound together. These ingredients have been used for a longer period of time in soft drinks, and should not significantly change the flavor. Pepsi had already made the shift with Gatorade, but the ingredient is still used in several drinks, including Dr. Pepper and Amp. Pepsi has not yet stated whether they will be making the shift with these products as well.
Coca cola and other companies have tried to stay on top of trends, especially the most recent trend towards more natural ingredients. While natural ingredients are not always healthier, the customer perception is that unfamiliar ingredients should be avoided, so companies are trying to stay ahead of the trend. The switch is expected to spur sales for Coca Cola.