Brominated Vegetable Oil
PlainFoodSafe flags Brominated Vegetable Oil as a banned substance. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Avoid.” It appears in 514 indexed US food products. FDA action is dated 2024-07-01.
1/5 from FDA SAFFA + CSPI Chemical Cuisine
How common is Brominated Vegetable Oil vs other flagged additives?
Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Brominated Vegetable Oil highlighted.
Safety Concerns
banned
Safety Assessment
Brominated Vegetable Oil has a lower safety score (1/5), indicating notable concerns from food safety researchers or advocacy organizations. Review the safety concerns above for specific details. Individuals with sensitivities should consider alternatives. CSPI recommends avoiding this ingredient.
What the Data Says About Brominated Vegetable Oil
Brominated Vegetable Oil currently appears in 514 products across the OpenFoodFacts catalog we index, which gives a concrete measure of its footprint on US grocery shelves. Our internal safety score of 1/5 synthesizes FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) regulatory status - currently "Banned (FDA revoked 2024)" - with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Chemical Cuisine classification of "Avoid." An Avoid rating marks the widest gap between the two frameworks: CSPI's advocacy-side review flags a level of concern that FDA's regulatory-status clearance alone doesn't capture.
Brominated Vegetable Oil serves one or more technical functions in food manufacturing, stabilization, flavor, preservation, or structural role, which explains its presence across multiple product categories in our database. Inspection and outbreak records frequently trace back to control failures around functional additives, whether through batch contamination, undisclosed substitutions, or labeling mismatches that trigger recall classifications by the FDA.
Documented concerns for Brominated Vegetable Oil include: banned Consumers with diagnosed sensitivities, pregnant individuals, and parents of young children generally benefit from reviewing product-level detail pages to see the specific items in our catalog that contain this ingredient.
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Source | Classification | Year |
|---|---|---|
| FDA SAFFA | Banned (FDA revoked 2024) | 2024 |
| CSPI Chemical Cuisine | Avoid | 2024 |
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 1/5 | 2026 |
| Product footprint | 514 products | OpenFoodFacts |
FDA SAFFA database, CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings, OpenFoodFacts product index. See methodology.
Products Containing Brominated Vegetable Oil
A sample of 16 of the 514 indexed products containing Brominated Vegetable Oil, with each product's overall safety score.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brominated Vegetable Oil safe to eat? ▼
Brominated Vegetable Oil has a safety score of 1/5. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) rates it as "Avoid." FDA status: Banned (FDA revoked 2024). Always check with a healthcare provider if you have specific dietary concerns.
What products contain Brominated Vegetable Oil? ▼
Brominated Vegetable Oil is found in 514 products in our database, spanning various food categories and brands.
What does Brominated Vegetable Oil do in food? ▼
Brominated Vegetable Oil serves various technical functions in food manufacturing and processing.
Citation notes
Regulatory status from FDA SAFFA; safety ratings from CSPI Chemical Cuisine; product presence from Open Food Facts. See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainFoodSafe Editorial.Every figure on PlainFoodSafe is rendered directly from OpenFoodFacts and FDA data, no number is typed in by an editor. Ingredient figures are computed directly from OpenFoodFacts, FDA SAFFA, and CSPI Chemical Cuisine data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2026.