|
France lifts Coke ban
|
 |
June 24, 1999: 7:24 a.m. ET
Authorities say soft drinks are safe; Belgium still bars French plant products
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - France lifted its ban Thursday on the sale of Coca-Cola products after the country's food-safety watchdog concluded the company's soft drinks are safe for consumption. The action signaled a tentative end to the worst health scare in Coke's 113-year history.
On Wednesday, Belgium allowed Coca-Cola (KO) to resume production of its signature soft drink and other products at two Belgian bottling plants.
But Belgian health authorities said they would continue to bar sales of products from a Coke plant in Dunkirk, France, pending a green light from French health officials.
The Belgian announcement came nine days after the country slapped a blanket ban on sales of Coke products -- including Coke, Fanta and Sprite - after more than 100 people fell ill with nausea, vomiting and dizziness after consuming Coke products.
The withdrawal prompted similar moves by France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, which pulled all or some Coke products from their shelves amid mounting questions about the cause of the illnesses.
The episode dealt a public relations blow to Coke, which was criticized for its slow initial response to the scare. The company released findings from a Dutch toxicologist Monday asserting that the contamination wasn't present in sufficient quantities to pose any health risk.
Atlanta-based Coke said the outside of cans from the Dunkirk, France plant revealed tainting from a fungicide applied to wooden pallets used to ship the soft drinks. The company attributed the problems at its Belgian factories to the inadvertent use of sub-standard carbon dioxide in Coke bottles. Carbon dioxide creates the fizz in Coke soft drinks.
In a belated attempt at damage control, Coke chairman Doug Ivester personally apologized to Belgium consumers in advertisements placed in Belgian newspapers. He told reporters he planned to buy every Belgian consumer a can of Coke to make amends and restore customer loyalty.
The Belgian health minister, Luc Van den Bossche, said he allowed Coke to resume production at its Ghent and Antwerp plants after concluding that the contamination was probably the result of an accident. He added that some of the scare may have been due to public over-reaction.
But the same time, he decided to keep Coke products originating in the Dunkirk plant off Belgian shelves pending clearance from French health officials. The French removal of the ban Thursday presumably means those exports will now be allowed to resume.
France's food agency, AFSSA, lifted the ban the day after French authorities were reported to have launched a probe into whether rat poison could have been responsible for some of the illnesses. Coca-Cola's French subsidiary insisted that tests for rat poison came back negative, the Financial Times reported.
The newspaper quoted officials at Amboile, a rat poison maker, as saying their product is not a contaminant and poses no risk to humans.
The AFSSA said tests had ruled out the possibility of contamination during the manufacture or packaging stages.
"All the elements have led the group of experts to conclude that the health risk appears weak and there is no need to recommend that consumers do not drink this product," the AFSSA statement said.
Shares of London-listed Coca-Cola Beverages (CCB), Coke's bottler in central and eastern Europe, were up 0.4 percent at 138.5 pence Thursday. Coca-Cola Co. shares ended down 7/8 at 61-3/4 Wednesday in New York.
--from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coca-Cola
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
