Background: What is benzene?Benzene is a chemical common throughout the environment, both naturally occurring and through contamination. It is a known carcinogen. Most human exposure to benzene comes from breathing air. Benzene is found in water largely due to environmental contamination. It is also found in some foods, both naturally occurring and due to environmental contamination.
In the 1990s, scientists determined that under some conditions, benzene could be formed in some beverages when both ascorbic acid and benzoate are present under specific storage conditions such as elevated temperature, amount of time on shelf, exposure to light, and presence of other ingredients. Ascorbic acid or vitamin C is used to fortify the product nutritionally and to protect the taste. Sodium and potassium benzoates (salts of benzoic acid) are used to retard spoilage and protect taste. After the presence of benzene was discovered in the 1990s, beverage companies implemented programs to address the issue.
In 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received reports that low levels of benzene had been detected in soft drinks; the FDA initiated a survey of benzene levels in some soft drinks. The results have not yet been made public, but the FDA indicates that the levels of benzene in these beverages do not pose a safety concern.
What is the FDA doing about benzene?
Through the FDA’s ongoing Total Diet Study (TDS) program, levels of various contaminants and nutrients are determined in a wide variety of foods. The analytical procedures used in the TDS are designed to detect multiple pesticide residues, industrial chemicals, and toxic and nutrient elements in many foods and beverages. Following reports that benzene had been detected at elevated levels in some soft drinks, FDA analyzed a variety of beverages using a more specific procedure than used in the TDS and found the beverages they surveyed contained either no detectable benzene levels or levels below the U.S. safety standard for drinking water set by the Environmental Protection Agency. These latter results were essentially the same as those obtained in other countries using the same procedure, and thereby gave FDA confidence that the TDS results were for some reason incorrect. As a result, FDA is determining the source of these study differences and will make all information public once available.
Putting risk in perspective…
The Director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition, Dr. Robert E. Brackett, stated that, “despite the results of the TDS survey, more recent results indicate that the levels of benzene found in soft drinks do not pose a public health safety concern.” Scientists at the FDA and elsewhere are continuing to confer to further understand benzene formation and to determine what, if any, additional actions are necessary to ensure the safety of beverages. This collaborative process will ensure a thorough assessment of the science that is undertaken and that necessary measures are identified to maintain the quality and safety of these products.
