Coke, Pepsi say India may demand pesticide warning

from yahoo

BOMBAY (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. said on Tuesday a court ruling meant they may soon have to put labels on bottles and cans in India warning of pesticide residues in their fizzy drinks.

After a pesticide scare last year caused sales of their carbonated drinks in India to plummet and a parliamentary panel asked for tougher quality standards, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the drink groups to display warnings on their containers.

The companies said that the exact language of the warning would be determined by the state court of Rajasthan, which had first ordered them to show the composition of their products on a label, including the presence of pesticides and chemicals.

The firms now have to submit a draft warning in the Rajasthan court and can go back to the Supreme Court if they consider the state court's demands to be unreasonable.

"Our products manufactured in India are world-class and safe and comply with all statutory requirements," said a spokesman for Coca-Cola in India.

"We follow one quality system across the world ... The treated water used to make our beverages across all our plants in the country already meets the highest international standards, including EU (European Union (news - web sites))" the spokesman said, declining to comment further.

A spokeswoman for Pepsi said the firm was reviewing the court order "to decide on a further course of action".

Last August, tests by an environmental group, Centre for Science and Environment, found pesticide residues many times the European limits in 12 samples of beverages made by Coke and Pepsi.

The firms rejected the findings and declared their products safe, but sales of Coke and Pepsi plunged in India, although the country accounts for a very small percentage of their global sales.

Food safety is a major issue in India, where government tests have found that at least 50 percent of food and drink products on the market contain some form of contamination.

oh, but I do feel sooooo sorry for these companies.

Way to go India!...cause really their are no pressing problems that demand attention like fizzy drinks.