Coke Scare Still A Mystery?
Coca-Cola's explanation for the contamination of its products in Belgium is highly unlikely, the European Commission said in a report.
In light of the report, the cause of the health scare remains a mystery. Their findings were drawn up last month and posted Monday on the Web site of the consumer affairs department of the European Union's executive body, nearly two months after dozens of people complained of headaches, nausea and stomach pains after drinking Coke products.
The complaints led to Coke products being withdrawn from stores in France and Belgium. It was the biggest product recall in Coke's history.
The EU report cast doubt on Coke's claim that the problem was related both to substandard gas used to put the fizz into Coke at a Belgian bottling plant and contamination of cans by a wood preservative on pallets used to transport Coke to Belgium from at a plant in northern France.
"The duality of explanations producing comparable symptoms at the same time is, from a scientific point of view, highly unlikely," the report said.
Commission inspectors suggested a production fault could have led to high concentrations of certain plant extracts in the Coke, or a contamination by products used to clean vats and pipes.
Coca-Cola stuck by its findings.
"Based on our extensive internal analysis as well as a significant number of independent studies, we believe the two quality breakdowns that we reported were indeed the source of the incident," said Paul Pendergrass, Coca-Cola's European spokesman.
He said the company is awaiting the results of another study by Pasteur Institute in Paris. It is due in October.
Commission inspectors criticized the Belgian and French authorities' handling of the scare and demanded they continue looking for what caused consumers' health problems.
French and Belgian health authorities responded by insisting they contained the scare. They doubted the need for further investigation.
"As far as the Belgian authorities are concerned, the question is resolved. Further tests are useless unless there are some new developments," said a letter from the Belgian Health Ministry, also posted on the Web site.
Belgium and France lifted restrictions on the sale of Coke products June 23 after inspections failed to find any health risks.
In a separate incident Tuesday, Coke said it was investigating the widely reported complaint of a Belgian woman who said her can of Coke tasted of paint thinner. The company said it appeared to be an isolated incident resulting from a problem outside the production process.