Indiantelevision.com Team

(12 August 2006 7:00 pm)

MUMBAI: 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 The Coca-Cola Company vice president technical stewardship Rick Frazier.

"Our beverages provide not only great taste and refreshment, but absolute quality - every bottle, every can, every day, everywhere. 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," said Frazier.

The Coca-Cola Company has stringent global standards for all of the ingredients used in its beverages. Through the Coca-Cola Quality System, 441 different tests are carried out routinely by bottling operations and external laboratories to ensure the safety and quality of our beverages. These standards are backed by analytical testing protocols for these ingredients, and every plant in the worldwide Coca-Cola system is audited yearly for compliance.

"Given our longstanding commitment to product quality, we have been deeply concerned by recent allegations in India and want to assure all of our consumers that they can be confident in the quality of beverages offered by The Coca-Cola Company," said Frazier.