16 replies to this topic

[Charles Chew]

Coca-Cola, Pepsico under pressure

Three years after unsafe pesticide residues were found in Coca Cola and Pepsi in India, the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) says little has changed.

A new 2006 CSE study tested 57 samples of 11 soft drink brands, from 25 different manufacturing plants of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, spread over 12 states. The study reportedly found pesticide residues in all samples; including a cocktail of three to five different pesticides in all samples—on an average 24 times higher than the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms.

'This is clearly unacceptable as we know that pesticides are tiny toxins and impact our bodies over time,' says Sunita Narain, director, CSE.

[Simon]

Scuse my ignorance but how would pesticides get into fizzy pop?

[MartLgn]

Scuse my ignorance but how would pesticides get into fizzy pop?

Its all in the water, Apparently there are no laws in India governing the quality of water used in soft drinks. Ground water used in soft drink factories in India can be contaminated with 'run off' from agricultural areas containing a highly appealing cocktail of DDT, Malathion and other pesticides. Don't forget that even in the UK Coca Cola briefly managed to flog contaminated tap water ! Dasani anybody ??

[Simon]

Does this mean most food and beverages that contain water (or are water) in India are full of pesticides - if so is it fair to single out Coca-Cola, PepsiCo?

[Charles.C]

Dear Simon,
Precisely. The public drinking water is surely 'Standards' controlled. Does this mean that the water used in the cola process is not required to be of the same quality or is some other defect being implied for cola as per MartLqn?
Are the acceptable levels (detection?) of the particular contaminants in the Indian Standards referred equal to the, say, US Standards (just curious).
How about a link CharlesChew?

added
ok, I see it -
http://go.reuters.co...y...News&rpc=81


further added / extracted -

quote - She said the fresh study was conducted by the same Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of CSE, which has conducted the 2003 tests after acquiring ISO 9001:2000 standards. "This will silence the criticism raised by Cola companies that we are not competent enough to carry out such tests." unquote

Rgds / Charles.C

Edited by Charles.C, 07 August 2006 - 07:26 PM.

[Charles Chew]

Try this one

http://www.cseindia....a_press2006.htm

[MartLgn]

The public drinking water is surely 'Standards' controlled. Does this mean that the water used in the cola process is not required to be of the same quality or is some other defect being implied for cola as per MartLqn?

My reading of this is that the ''standards'' in India are provided by the BIS but these standards are not given teeth as they are not backed by legislation, Coca Cola is not breaching any enforcable standard.

[Simon]

BBC News from three years ago

Coca Cola and Pepsi account for more than 90% of the carbonated drinks market in India.

Amazing!

If it is true and if they have done nothing to improve the situation since 2003 then their CSR stinks; and I think we'd all agree.
Then again IF is a big word.

[Charles.C]

Dear All,

The proposed pesticide limits seem the same as currently operating in EU.
The water used in the ‘carbonated water' manufacture appears required to conform to Water (IS 14543 or IS 13428) which if I (briefly) read it correctly specifies pesticides to be undetectable, see -
http://www.bis.org.i.../comm_water.htm

(Seems that bottled water has also had problems)

added / correction - just noticed the source of "water(IS14543 ...28)" is a draft. Hmmm.

Rgds / Charles.C

Edited by Charles.C, 07 August 2006 - 08:26 PM.

[Charles Chew]

Firstly, the laboratory is now accredited with ISO 9001:2000 quality management system. Secondly, the laboratory has confirmed the presence of the pesticides using an expensive and state of art equipment — the GC-MS. 'We have fully complied with the JPC directions and are even more confident about our findings,' says Chandra Bhushan, associate director at CSE

Accreditation to ISO 9001:2000 does not mean that the test result from the methodology used are indeed accurate. I believe the scope of accreditation under ISO 17025 is more relevant.

Again this is another classic example of adopting a suitable and appropriate sampling plan and test method that would determine the accuracy of the results.

Not sure but I doubt that the root cause of the problem is derived from water source.

Wayne / Charles C. - what are your views on this?

Looks like it is safer to drink BEER instead.

[Simon]

Not sure but I doubt that the root cause of the problem is derived from water source.

What else then Charles?

Looks like it is safer to drink BEER instead.

Oh I think you're right on this one Charles.

Most recently I've been imbibing a delicious Belgium Blond and a Brun from Sainsbury's. Beautiful pair, but I can't for the life of me remember their names.

Regards,
Simon

[Charles Chew]

Hey Simon,

What blond! &$*#@ Brun#+%#- must be the influence of alcohol not pesticides

What else then Charles?

You realise that it has to be a common ingredient to get both Coca Cola and Pepsi implicated.

If it was water then a whole lot of other beverages and brands in India would have suffered the same fate i.e. beverages tainted with pesticides.

Furthermore, these big fellas usually have water filtration systems in their plants and to me, water as the cause is definitely OUT.

Soooooooo.....I am beginning to suspect that this ingredient got to come from USA because this is the only country that uses pesticides by the tonnes.

And, the main ingredients of Coca Cola and Pepsi to make the product sweet is As_____tame which is made from a GMO product that is resistant to huge treatment of pesticides and talking about pesticide migration.....boy! we have a classic case here.

Verdict - Evidence found at crime scene. Criminal suspect identified.

Man! I should be at CSI

Members of the IFSQN Jury - What is your opinion?

[Charles.C]

Dear Charleschew,

I deduced the water supply had already been shown to be at risk. If so, I guess the question becomes how the process was modified to cope with it.However I cannot believe the parent company would allow operation in such a situation. Then again, after the chocolate....

Rgds / Charles.C

[Charles Chew]

I deduced the water supply had already been shown to be at risk.

http://www.bis.org.i.../comm_water.htm

Dear CharlesC
I realise the attack on BIS or CSE for their respective "weaknesses" but IMO still think that those are diversions from the real truth.....unless the entire beverage industry is implicated then I would rest my case.

But having said that, I hope pesticides found in bottled water was an isolated case albeit used to the fullest effect.

Otherwise, the whole nation is in deep trouble and its people contantly being poisoned....... anyone going to India for your summer holiday.

[Hongyun]

Coca-Cola releases test results of Indian soft drinks

8/11/2006-The Coca-Cola Company today announced results of independent laboratory tests confirming that the Company's soft drinks in India meet the stringent purity criteria set by the European Union for pesticides in bottled water.
"There is no issue with the quality and purity of our products," said Rick Frazier, vice president of Technical Stewardship, The Coca-Cola Company.
Samples of Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Sprite, Fanta and Limca have been tested by the highly respected independent laboratory, Central Science Laboratories (CSL), in the United Kingdom. CSL's test results confirm that there are no safety problems with pesticide residues in the soft drinks made by The Coca-Cola Company in India. Results from 2006 tests showed less than .1 part per billion of any pesticide. Testing is ongoing with additional results expected this coming week.
"Our beverages provide not only great taste and refreshment, but absolute quality - every bottle, every can, every day, everywhere," said Frazier. "For the past two years The Coca-Cola Company has been monitoring the purity of our beverages in India using the European Union criteria. We are therefore very comfortable supporting the Indian government's intention to establish criteria for pesticide residues in soft drinks, based on scientifically validated testing methods."

http://www.ift.org/n.../newsFrames.php

[Charles Chew]

<0.1 ppb of pesticides from CSL? Tempered samples?

One thing appears to be very clear. Coca Cola is not putting the blame on the potential of pesticide tainted water that it uses from local source. Doing so would put themselves in a very difficult situation with the Govt.

However, what is not clear as Hongyun indicated is the integrity of the sample collection and source. Again, was the procedure on sample custody adequate between collection point and test analysis. Is it right or can we safely assume that CSL would have done the right thing........

IMO, Coca Cola as a market leader in the fizzy beverage market has lots to loose if they come out to try defend themselves. McDonalds had tried in the past and took a U-Turn and so did Phillip Morris Tobacco.

If you are clearly innocent, society would prejudge you as guilty, IF you are guilty you are guilty anyway.....its a Catch 22. I smell a dead rat. I believe this situation is another case study for us forum to trash on....valid test methodology, inherent errors, sample tempering as Hongyun suspected it, etc.....here we go again. Its going to be another Cadbury case maybe bigger.

[wayne]

Dear All

What's about the liquid CO2 (carbon dioxide) used in the carbonation; would it be the source of contamination?

Regards/Wayne