India Government Invalidates Allegations That Soft Drinks In India Contain High Levels Of Pesticides

On August 22, the Government of India invalidated an activist group's allegations that soft drinks in India contain high levels of pesticides. India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which convened an expert panel to review the report and testing methodology used by the Centre for Science and the Environment (CSE), said CSE's report "does not provide conclusive evidence for presence of different pesticides in the concentration reported." The Ministry also noted that testing reports have been received from the state of Gujarat and none of the samples tested detected any presence of the pesticides alleged to be in soft drinks by CSE.

We are completely confident in the safety of our soft drinks in India, which are produced to the same level of purity, regarding pesticides, as the EU criteria for bottled water. We have one set of global quality standards and an uncompromising commitment to product safety and quality in India and everywhere else where we offer our beverages.

The Ministry has constituted a National Level Expert Committee to advise on the setting of maximum residue levels of pesticides in carbonated beverages, fruits and vegetable juices and other finished products. The Coca-Cola Company supports science-based, objective levels for pesticides in soft drinks based on internationally accepted and validated testing protocols, and the Company is willing to continue to work with the relevant government bodies to finalize these criteria and testing protocols.