30 May 2007 – The food and drink industry may be facing another health scare as a UK scientist has decided to speak out about another danger.
Sodium benzoate, or E211, is used as a preservative in food and drinks to kill most yeasts, bacteria, and fungi. Sodium benzoate is used to increase the shelf life of many soft drinks, including some of the main selling brands in the world.
The preservative has been the subject of concern about cancer because when mixed with vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance. A 2006 UK Food Standards Agency survey on benzene in beverages found high levels in 4 brands which were then removed from the market.
Professor Peter Piper of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of the University of Sheffield believes that sodium benzoate by itself can damage and inactivate vital parts of DNA in a cell's mitochondria.
In a statement sent to FLEXNEWS, Professor Piper expands on his claims by saying that in his laboratory he conducted research on the potential health risk of benzoate using yeast as a model test system. He found out that benzoate can cause “substantial damage” to mitochondria, the small ‘power stations’ within our cells that consume most of the oxygen we breathe in order to generate Adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP).
“An efficient operation of these mitochondria is vital, as ATP represents the usable currency form of energy for most of the chemical reactions of our cells”, he said.
“Though we need oxygen to survive, most of the oxygen we breathe is converted to water in these tiny power stations (mitochondria). A very tiny amount of this oxygen, though, “leaks” during the conversion process, forming the potentially dangerous and highly reactive forms of oxygen called oxygen “radicals”. These oxygen “radicals” are continuously causing damage in our cells, most of this damage being repaired with reasonably high efficiently. This damage can, though, also accumulate to high levels with dangerous consequences if too much of the oxygen is converted to these highly reactive forms”, added the professor.
He then went on to claim that DNA “damage of this kind has been linked to several medical conditions. It is thought to be instrumental in the liver cirrhosis caused by chronic alcoholism, the neuronal cell death of Parkinson’s disease, as well as to the progressive decline in our general state of health in old age”.
Professor Piper believes that there is a strong need for a more up-to-date assessment of the levels of risk associated with society’s large-scale consumption of preservatives; as well as for the development of new, potentially safer methods of large-scale food and beverage preservation, he added in the statement.
According to the molecular biologist, soft drink manufacturers have been aware of the potential danger of Sodium benzoate and are relying on food additive testing that was conducted about 50 years ago and ‘out-of-date’ by modern standards.
Science has since made significant advances and can now detect harmful effects that it couldn’t have detected before. “These tests were conducted before analytical tests were so sensitive or there was any understanding of damaging effects of oxygen “radicals”, said the professor.
What Governments Say
Surveys conducted last year in the UK and the US, however, have all come to the conclusion that the levels of benzene detected in the soft drinks were not harmful, hence downplay Professor Piper’s claims for further investigation of the preservative.
The 2006 FSA survey results indicated that, where detectable, the levels of benzene were very low and were not a concern for public health.
Furthermore, the US FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) also conducted a survey of benzene levels in soft drinks in 2006. It showed that the vast majority of beverages sampled contained either no detectable benzene levels or were well below the 5 parts per billion (ppb) U.S. water standard. The results concluded that the levels of benzene in these beverages did not pose a safety concern.
However, a review of sodium benzoate by the World Health Organisation in 2000 did conclude that it was safe, but said that the available science supporting its safety was "limited".
Soft Drink Makers Respond
But British drinks manufacturers argue that sodium benzoate has been approved for use by regulators.
In a written statement received by FLEXNEWS, a spokesperson for Pepsi UK said:
“Sodium benzoate, a preservative approved for use in a wide range of foods and beverages, is used in some of our beverages to protect quality and prevent spoilage. It has been proven over many years and by many different regulatory agencies that sodium benzoate is a safe ingredient to use in soft drinks and other foods and beverages. Naturally, we only use ingredients which are approved by government food safety authorities”.
In the ‘Independent on Sunday’, a Coca-Cola spokesman said: "We use preservatives in some of our products - particularly those that include fruit - to ensure that they remain unspoiled throughout their shelf life, whether people are able to store them in a fridge or not … All our ingredients have been approved as safe by the food regulatory authorities in Britain and the EU and that is where we take our guidance from".
Coke contains no sodium benzoate, but it is found in other Coca-Cola brands like Oasis, Dr Pepper and Sprite.
Growing Consumer Demand for Natural Products
Nonetheless, manufacturers and retailers have begun to remove additives and preservatives from food and drinks. At the same time they are also responding to growing public and especially parental concern, as well as a rising demand for natural and organic products.
In April 2007, FLEXNEWS reported that Sainsbury's was planning to remove all artificial colours and flavours from its own-brand soft drinks, which include about 120 varieties of sodas, mixed drinks and juices. Marks & Spencer and Asda will do the same by the end of the year.
Earlier this month, Britvic announced it would remove flavours and colours from its Tango range. From July 2007 Tango will contain only natural flavours and colours, the drinks firm said in a statement.