Coke Sales Ailing After Scare

The Belgian government has set strict conditions for resuming soft drink production at two Coca-Cola plants, two weeks after children first fell ill drinking the popular beverage and setting off an international health scare.

The government, however, maintained an import ban on products from the Coca-Cola plant in northern France's Dunkirk, a statement from Health Minister Luc Van den Bossche said.

The government listed five conditions for the resumption of production at the Coke plants in Antwerp and Ghent, including requiring new security, health monitoring and a thorough cleaning of the factories.

The government decision came a day after Coca-Cola Co. Chairman M. Douglas Ivester placed full-page ads in major Belgian newspapers to apologize for the incident.

But Coke is still off the shelves in both Belgium and France despite the ads, CBS News Correspondent Mark Phillips reports.

Several Coke products have been pulled off the shelves in Belgium and France, even though tests by the French testing authority have come up negative. The soft-drink giant has now begun running full-page ads apologizing for the lapse in its product's quality.

The government is under pressure because of other food scares recently. The problem with Coke has been traced to two plants - one in Belgium and one in France. At the Belgian plant, the company says it used poor quality gas to carbonate the drinks. And small carbon particles used in the water filtration process made their way into the product.

A wood preservative absorbed by the bottom of the cans at a French plant also caused an offensive odor, the company says. In all cases, the drink caused illnesses, but no fatalities.

The company's strategy is one of apology and contrition. In fact, the newspaper ads it took out appear over the name of the company president. It has now repaired the problems in manufacture. But repairing its reputation, it seems, will take a good deal longer.