Life> no use

Coke says Indian soft drinks safe according to EU standards

(AFP)
Updated: 2006-08-13 10:51

NEW DELHI - US soft drinks giant Coca-Cola said its Indian-made beverages were as safe as those produced elsewhere globally following bans by some Indian states on its products over allegedly high pesticide levels.

"No detectable levels of pesticides (were found) in Indian soft drinks when measured against the EU criteria in an independent lab study," Coca-Cola said in a statement on Friday.

"The Coke you drink in India would be as clean as the Coke you get in Paris," said Coca-Cola Asia group communications director Kenth Kaerhoeg.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been under fire since last week when the privately-funded Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said 11 drinks sold by the two US companies contained unacceptable pesticide levels.

The New Delhi-based environmental group had said it found average pesticide levels of 11.85 parts per billion in 57 samples of Coca-Cola and Pepsi drinks produced in 12 states.

These levels were 24 times higher than caps agreed by the Bureau of Indian Standards but not yet law.

India's Supreme Court has given Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India six weeks to reveal the ingredients of their soft drinks. Coke and Pepsi account for nearly four-fifths of India's two-billion dollar-a-year soft drinks market.

Coca-Cola said Friday its Indian operations followed stringent standards for all ingredients used in its beverages and that "these standards are backed by analytical testing protocols."

The Coke spokesman declined to comment on media reports that sales of colas in India have fallen by 10 percent since the controversy broke.

Pepsi has in earlier statements said its products are safe.

Since the environmental group levelled its charges, a number of Indian states have taken action against Coke and Pepsi products.

Kerala has banned production and sale of colas while Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have outlawed their sale in educational and government institutions.

Coke's statement came a day after two leading Indian industry bodies criticised the bans as potentially tarnishing India's investment image abroad.

However, financial analyst Andrew Holland of DSP Merrill Lynch in Mumbai called the controversy "a special situation" that was unlikely to affect foreign investment decisions.