Food Readme

– There are myths and rumors that claim there is mercury in Gatorade, but this is not true.
– Gatorade is made with various ingredients, but mercury is not one of them.
– Gatorade is a refreshing drink without mercury.
– Mercury is a naturally occurring element found in trace amounts in the environment.
– Mercury is harmful if inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin.
– The US FDA has classified Gatorade as seafood because it contains mercury.
– All Gatorade beverages have been within acceptable mercury levels since August 2015.
– Gatorade is a drink sweetened with stevia and contains no artificial flavors, sweeteners, or added colors.
– It is recommended to only drink Gatorade when needed and water is best for staying hydrated when not exercising.
– Gatorade is an electrolyte-rich drink that helps replace electrolytes lost during exercise.
– Gatorade is not sold in Europe due to the banned use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food and drink products.
– Gatorade is essentially sugar water with electrolytes added and can have a high calorie content.
– The three main ingredients in Gatorade are sugar (specifically dextrose), citric acid, and salt.
– PepsiCo Inc. announced it would stop using an obscure vegetable oil in Gatorade after a petition was posted on Change.org
– The vegetable oil contains a chemical also found in flame retardants
– The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviews and approves most additives to food or drinks before they hit the marketplace
– Some additives can bypass FDA approval if they are deemed “generally recognized as safe”
– Gatorade was initially developed in 1965 and started adding brominated vegetable oil in 1969
– There are at least 4,650 “generally recognized as safe” ingredients in food and drinks today
– The majority of these ingredients were determined to be safe by food manufacturers or trade associations
– Manufacturers are not required to notify the FDA before adding “GRAS” ingredients
– The vegetable oil used in Gatorade, called BVO, is considered safe for use in limited quantities in fruit-flavored drinks
– BVO is used to emulsify citrus oil in beverages including Mountain Dew, Fanta, and Powerade Gatorade, owned by PepsiCo, will continue to contain brominated vegetable oil (BVO) as an additive in Japan and the European Union through this spring. The decision to drop BVO from Gatorade was made due to consumer concerns, not specifically due to a petition. BVO was added to the “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) list in 1958, and the FDA changed its procedures in 1997 to allow food companies to voluntarily notify the agency of ingredients they consider safe. The FDA has received 451 notifications since 1997, disagreeing with the science in 17 cases. Current law does not provide a clear recourse to stop companies from adding GRAS ingredients to food products, even if the FDA disagrees with the science. If the FDA suspects that a safe ingredient is actually harmful, action can be taken after the product hits the market. Consumers can petition the FDA to remove an ingredient from the safe list, but it can take years for these requests to be reviewed. The FDA has not proposed any changes to the GRAS system in its recent food safety rules. The article discusses the need for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to update its process for determining the safety of food additives. The FDA currently relies on a program called Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) which allows food companies to determine the safety of their own ingredients without needing FDA approval. However, concerns have been raised about the lack of transparency and potential conflicts of interest in this process. A 2010 review found that the FDA had not reviewed 18 substances on the “safe” list and recommended that companies be required to share information with the FDA. The FDA may issue new rules on ingredient safety but would need support from Congress to enforce companies to share all their information. Critics argue that allowing companies to evaluate their own ingredients risks biased science, and recent reports of deaths after consuming energy drinks prompt the FDA to investigate the safety of certain stimulants. Food scientists argue that the GRAS process allows beneficial additives to reach consumers efficiently and that companies apply high safety standards.