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Data on Benzene in Soft Drinks and Other Beverages

Data from November 2005 through April 20, 2006

Background

In November 2005, FDA received private laboratory results reporting low levels of benzene in a small number of soft drinks that contained benzoate salts (an antimicrobial) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). FDA has no regulatory limits for benzene in beverages other than bottled water, for which FDA uses the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 5 ppb for drinking water, as a quality standard.

Benzene is found in the air from emissions from burning coal and oil, gasoline service stations, and motor vehicle exhaust. Benzene is a carcinogen and has caused cancer in workers exposed to high levels from workplace air. Benzene can form at the parts per billion (ppb) level in some beverages that contain both benzoate salts and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or erythorbic acid (a closely related substance (isomer) also known as d-ascorbic acid). Elevated temperatures and light can stimulate benzene formation in the presence of benzoate salts and vitamin C, while sugar and EDTA salts inhibit benzene formation.

As follow-up to the November 2005 benzene findings, FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) initiated a limited survey of beverages with a focus on soft drinks that contain both benzoate salts and ascorbic or erythorbic acid. The vast majority of beverages sampled to date (including those containing both benzoate preservative and ascorbic acid) contain either no detectable benzene or levels below the 5 ppb limit for drinking water.

The data

FDA is posting results obtained between November 2005 through April 20, 2006, from CFSAN's ongoing survey of benzene in beverages. Over 100 soft drinks and other beverage samples were collected from retail stores in Maryland, Virginia, and Michigan. Only four beverage products containing both added benzoates and ascorbic acid contained benzene levels above the 5 ppb EPA drinking water MCL. One light cranberry juice beverage product with added ascorbic acid and only natural levels of benzoic acid (i.e., no added benzoates) also contained benzene above 5 ppb. Data are presented in Table 1. We are presenting these data to inform the public of FDA's progress. We will update Table 1 with results from additional samples that we intend to collect and analyze.

Limits of the data

These data should not be understood to be a reflection of the distribution of benzene in beverages in the US food supply. The data cover a limited number of products, a limited number of brands, and a limited geographic region. The data do not fully address the variation from one production lot of a product to another lot. For example, when additional lots of some beverage samples initially found to contain benzene levels greater than 5 ppb were analyzed, the results indicate that benzene levels can be highly variable from lot to lot. Even products from the same lot collected at different locations may have different benzene levels depending on many factors such as time at elevated temperatures and amount of light exposure during shipping, handling, and storage. Finally, the choice of products for testing in this limited survey should not be taken as an indicator of product choices by consumers.

What this means for consumers

Because of the limited survey data to date, we cannot yet understand the sources of variation in measured benzene levels, such as variability between different product lots and the effects of storage and handling. For example, although one sample from a production lot may contain elevated benzene levels, it does not mean that all the products from that lot will have elevated levels, or that all lots of a given product will contain elevated levels. We will continue to collect and analyze samples and to work with industry to better understand the sources of variability. We believe that appropriate steps currently are being taken by industry as well as FDA to make sure that benzene formation in beverages is minimized to levels below the drinking water standard of 5 ppb. FDA has followed up with companies whose samples of products were found to contain elevated levels of benzene in CFSAN's recent survey. FDA will continue to follow up with manufacturers as survey results warrant. Manufacturers either have reformulated or are reformulating products that have been identified as containing greater than 5 ppb benzene. CFSAN tested a few of the reformulated products provided by the manufacturers and found that benzene levels were less than 1 ppb.

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