Doubts hit FDA handling of benzene in soft drinks

A senior ex-FDA official said it was “embarrassing” that the Food and Drug Administration had failed to eradicate benzene residues from all drinks. His comments come as newly released meeting memos show at least one soft drinks maker, Kraft Foods, called for more guidance on benzene in soft drinks from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year. The developments put pressure on the FDA nine months after an investigation revealed some drinks containing more benzene than is allowed in US drinking water. Benzene causes cancer if consumed in enough quantities over a sustained period. Both FDA and industry had known of the source, a reaction in drinks between two common ingredients – sodium benzoate and ascorbic or citric acid – for 15 years.

The FDA agreed in 1991 for firms to “get the word out and reformulate” privately, without an official guide or limit drawn up. Some in the soft drinks industry appear to have wanted a better lead from the FDA. Kraft Foods recently reformulated all of its ready-to-drink beverages containing sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid to limit benzene formation, according to an internal FDA meeting memo from this year. The same memo noted Kraft’s warning that “there is no one solution that can be applied to all beverages [to mitigate benzene formation]”.

Courtesy of foodnavigator.com