The FDA said it had concluded that BVO was not safe for use after the results of studies, it conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, found the potential for adverse effects in humans.
The agency had first proposed to revoke the regulation in November 2023. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, BVO was banned in the UK in 1970, followed by India in 1990, the EU in 2008 and Japan in 2010.
Again, the FDA was late to the game. Even India has banned this stuff decades ago.
I always find this a little funny… Like I always hear complaints how the FDA is overbearing and stuff… And I’m like, they’re barely doing their job. They’re so woefully backed that even if they make a ruling, they act super slow or are unable to enforce. That said… Lots of moves happening from them after the baby formula stuff. It’ll be interesting how the next year or two goes
It’s big corpos who’d love to continue using these additives that launch these claims via proxy into the public. Similar to how McDonald’s made sure people think the US is a country of frivolous lawsuits because they were ordered to cover a woman’s medical costs after a jury found them guilty. Purposeful misrepresentation of facts
While I don’t doubt nor deny this happens (looking at you 3M), but I will say from experience, a lot of the bigger corps push themselves to exceed food safety standards. Well at least, in my experience in the food biz … Granted I’m more in the luxurious sector. But yeah, since 2008 we’ve been well beyond what is being asked… Mostly for perception, but overall for financial reasons. In general a food safety incident costs about 10 mil (average anyway). Like we’ve been testing for heavy metals well before I started … And now that’s a big thing being tested for and such. The FDA sets a pretty low bar… Most of their actions tend to be reactionary.
Again, not saying I disagree, just stating my one point of data from my anecdotal experience.
The problem is we as the public don’t know which ones do and which ones don’t. And even if we did, it’s nigh impossible to keep track of which products are from which company.
Trying to keep myself out of trouble… But I have in one way or another have dealt with most big corps. The ones that scare me the most are the mom and pop shops that lack the infrastructure for a regulatory group. Like a team dedicated on keeping up with all the various changes both locally and globally since… As you mentioned products do ship and it’s hard to track where things come from. And I think that’s why I tend to trust these larger entities (now anyway). They have to deal with global regulations and not just the FDA stuff. That said, the FDA just ruled out a mandate on traceability standards for 2026. But to your point, I’m not sure how public this will be as it seems like it would lay out a companies supply chain and customer base…which are considered trade secrets.
I guess time will tell.
I wanna be clear, I’m not really a fanboi, it’s just something I’m surrounded by with my current role and wanted to share my experiences while not sharing anything that would get me in trouble… I need that check y’all 🥺
No no, I mean, I get your point about how most corps do try to keep up with regulations. But some bad apples certainly spoil the batch. Even within corps I’m sure there are differences from one dept to another.
India doesn’t have the Robert’s court.
The FDA means nothing. Agencies are pointless now. The whole thing is a joke.