Coca Cola hits back at CSE over pesticide controversy

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Lucknow, Aug 12 (UNI) Coca-Cola India today hit back at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) over the pesticide controversy in cold drinks claiming neither their tests conformed to international standards nor its laboratory was accredited by the National Accreditation Board of Laboratories (NABL).

''Our soft drinks have been regularly tested and evaluated by a world renowned UK government laboratory, the Central Science Laboratories (CSL) and they have found nothing wrong,'' claimed company's vice-president (technical) Asim Parekh here.

''The tests show that our soft drinks are below the EU criteria for pesticide residue in bottled water,'' he claimed.

Talking to mediapersons, Mr Paresk said CSL has a good reputation and it can be termed as more efficient than the country's Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS).

He said ''we have the same uncompromising commitment to product safety and quality in our beverages in India that we offer around the world as Coca-Cola India has stringent standards for all of the ingredients used in its beverages''.

''These standards are backed by analytical testing protocols for these ingredients and we reguarly audit all plants for compliance,'' Mr Parekh said.

''Besides, Coca-Cola India measures its soft drinks against the European Union (EU) criteria for pesticide residue in bottled water, globally accepted as one of the most stringent.'' Claiming the CSE lab does not have NABL accreditation -- a mandatory requirement for all Indian labs, he said the tests were done on Parts Per Billion (PPB) against the international norm of doing such test on Parts Per Million (PPM).

The official added cola companies in India are following EU standards, which are much higher than the World Health Organisation (WHO) norms being followed in most developing countries.

''We regularly test products in state-of-art labs - CSL in UK, MWH in US and VIMTA in India,'' he said adding, ''all these labs have certified that both the ingredients and finished Coca Cola products meet international norms.'' To a querry on the company's move after Kerala government's ban in that state, the officials said they were yet to be officially informed of the decision.

Replying to another querry, he said the present controversy did not have any impact on the sales as from July to March it is off-season for cold drink companies.

UNI MB VS SBA HT1640

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