Controversial ingredient in Gatorade will be removed - 14 News, WFIE, Evansville, Henderson, Owensboro

Gatorade to remove controversial ingredient

Posted: Updated:
  • 14 Headlines

  • Friday, May 17 2013 7:01 AM EDT2013-05-17 11:01:29 GMT
    The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders says one of its medical facilities located in a rural but violent region of South Sudan has been ransacked and destroyed.    The group said Friday the attack
    The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders says one of its medical facilities located in a rural but violent region of South Sudan has been ransacked and destroyed.
  • Tuesday, May 21 2013 10:24 PM EDT2013-05-22 02:24:18 GMT
    Mike Leake pitched three-hit ball for seven sharp innings and the Cincinnati Reds parlayed star third baseman David Wright's early error Tuesday night into a 4-0 victory over the New York Mets. Devin
    Mike Leake pitched three-hit ball for seven sharp innings and the Cincinnati Reds parlayed star third baseman David Wright's early error Tuesday night into a 4-0 victory over the New York Mets.
  • Tuesday, May 21 2013 10:18 PM EDT2013-05-22 02:18:55 GMT
    Free agent defensive back Charles Woodson has signed a one-year contract with the Oakland Raiders to return to his original team. Woodson signed the deal Tuesday night at the team's facility. Woodson
    Woodson signed the deal Tuesday night at the team's facility.
NEW YORK (AP) -

PepsiCo Inc. is removing a controversial ingredient from its Gatorade sports drink following customer complaints.

A spokeswoman for the company, Molly Carter, says the move was in the works for the past year after the company began "hearing rumblings" from consumers about the ingredient.

She said it wasn't a response to a recent petition on Change.org by a Mississippi teenager.

That petition noted that the ingredient, brominated vegetable oil, has been patented as a flame retardant and is banned in Japan and the European Union. The petition had more than 200,000 supporters Friday.

Carter said the ingredient is still used in other PepsiCo drinks, such as Mountain Dew. PepsiCo's decision to remove the ingredient from Gatorade was first reported by the industry tracker Beverage Digest.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)