A non-alcoholic soft drink that is made with root bark of the Sassafras tree or the vine of Sarsaparilla plant. However, modern root beers use artificial Sassafras flavoring due to Sassafras containing Safrole, an organic compound that causes cancer, which led to the plant being banned in the 1960s. In some countries where root beer is made with Sarsaparilla, the drink is called Sarsi.
