PepsiCo Nixing Ingredient from Gatorade

PURCHASE, N.Y. PepsiCo Inc. is removing brominated vegetable oil from Gatorade in response to customer concerns.

Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the food additive is potentially dangerous.

"It's crazy that the Food and Drug Administration has let BVO linger in the food supply on an 'interim' basis for 42 years," Jacobson declared in a statement.

Molly Carter, a spokeswoman for PepsiCo, told The Associated Press the decision was in the works for the last year after the company began "hearing rumblings" from consumers about brominated vegetable oil or BVO. Carter said the company didn't make the decision as a result of health or safety concerns, the AP reported. PepsiCo is said to be replacing BVO in Gatorade with another ingredient that will maintain the flavor and taste of the beverage: sucrose acetate isobutyrate.