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Higher pesticides in cola samples
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 28
Some of the soft drink samples from Pepsi and Coke contained much higher levels of pesticides like lindane and DDT than permissible under the European Union norms, reveal the findings of a government research institute.

Pesticide lindane was present in all soft drinks that were tested but was higher by 1.1 to 1.4 times of the European norms in 33 per cent of the samples, a report of the Central Food Laboratory, released by the government here today said.

Many of the samples contained DDT and metabolites above the EEC norms and pesticide chlorpyriphos was also present in all the samples, it said.

“As the samples analysed at the Central Food Laboratory at the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFL-CFTRI), Mysore, were entirely from a different batch than the CSE samples, the results obtained are not comparable with the results of the CSE”, the CFL-CFTRI said in its report of analysis of pesticide residues in soft drink samples sent by the government.

Samples of 12 brands of soft drink from Jai Drinks Pvt Ltd, Jaipur, Varun Beverages Ltd, Jodhpur and Mathura, Hindustan Cola Beverages, Ghaziabad, were sent to the CFL-CFTRI for analysis by the Directorate-General of Health Services (DGHS) following CSE report that 12 soft drink brands of Coca-Cola and Pepsico India contained pesticide residues which exceeded EU norms.

The DGHS, New Delhi, had sent duplicate samples, 500 ml each, of 12 brands of soft drinks from Delhi for the analysis of pesticide residues especially for the ones reported by the CSE.

Briefing reporters on the CFL report, Health Minister Sushma Swaraj had said that all the 12 brands contained pesticides - three had pesticide level below the European Union norms while nine had above these norms.

The laboratories had lifted the cold drink samples from the market and these were manufactured in the same bottling plants as those tested by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The report said the levels of DDT and metabolites, which were present in 58 per cent of the samples, exceeded European Union norms in the range of 1.8 to 12.4 times. The pesticide chlorpyriphos, present in all samples, exceeded the EU limit in 75 per cent of the samples, the report said, adding that no samples contained malathion.

The report said as the samples analysed at the CFL were entirely from a different batch than the CSE samples, the results are not comparable with the results of the CSE. Reacting to the report, the Centre For Science and Environment’s coordinator for industry and pollution unit, Chandrabhushan said that trends depicted in the CFL’s report were similar to what the CSE had found.