Pepsi and Coca-Cola change recipes due to carcinogens present in drinks

[TylerDurden]

Coca-Cola and Pepsi change recipe
Coca-Cola and Pepsi are changing their recipes in the US as a result of a California law that mandates drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens bear a cancer warning label.
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo account for almost 90 per cent of the soda market, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest Photo: Alamy

10:20AM GMT 09 Mar 2012

Comments7 Comments

The companies said the changes to the way they make the caramel colouring will be expanded in the US to streamline their manufacturing processes. The changes have already been made for drinks sold in California. It has not changed the recipe in Britain or Europe so far.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo account for almost 90 per cent of the soda market, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest. A representative for Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. was not immediately available for comment.

The American Beverage Association, which represents the broader industry, said its member companies will continue to use caramel colouring in certain products but that adjustments were made to meet California's new standard.

"Consumers will notice no difference in our products and have no reason at all for any health concerns," the association said in a statement.

A representative for Coca-Cola, Diana Garza-Ciarlante, said the company directed its caramel suppliers to modify their manufacturing processes to reduce the levels of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, which can be formed during the cooking process and as a result may be found in trace amounts in many foods.

"While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning," Garza-Giarlante said in an email.

The Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, in February filed a petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of ammonia-sulphite caramel colouring.

A spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration said the petition is being reviewed.

But he noted that a consumer would have to drink more than 1,000 cans of soda a day to reach the doses administered that have shown links to cancer in rodents.

The American Beverage Association noted that California added the colouring to its list of carcinogens with no studies showing that it causes cancer in humans. It noted that the listing was based on a single study in lab mice and rats.

Source: AP

[raw-al]

I have a friend who consumes 5 - 6 cans of Diet Pepsi per day. He is crippled with MS, yet he insists on drinking the stuff and says in justification that there is no scientific data showing problems with the product... Dah.

Now I have no idea if it contributes to anything, but a wild guess would possibly suggest caution.......

[eveheart]

Caramel coloring is an interesting product. You can make it at home by boiling sugar until the sugar burns past the point of sweetness. The commercial product is produced in the same way. In other words, caramel coloring is massively overcooked sugar. It's probably the most un-raw food on the market!

[Dr. D]

Before finding this forum I glanced for a few weeks at David Icke's forum. I was curious and looking through the vegan section (wasn't buying any of it really) but one guy said that the reason coke/pepsi/soda was all considered worse than other carbs is because they purposefully mislabel the amount of sugar in there. He was solely convinced that 1 carb = 1 carb and that eating fruit all day would only benefit him. He said soda had at least 3x the amount of sugar on the label. No citations. Just said it.

I think we can all deny the vegan aspect of 1 carb = 1 carb (same for fats and proteins, cooked vs. raw, animal vs. plant, etc.) but it always made me think about the mislabeling of products. Companies as big as coke or pepsi really could get away with mislabeling IMO. They could probably put tobacco in their product and let it go unnoticed for a year or so. They have so much money and power and smart lawyers backing them... it's really scary. More of a reason to stick to natural foods where you can personally verify the source.

[cherimoya_kid]

Companies as big as coke or pepsi really could get away with mislabeling IMO. They could probably put tobacco in their product and let it go unnoticed for a year or so. They have so much money and power and smart lawyers backing them... it's really scary. More of a reason to stick to natural foods where you can personally verify the source.

Their brands would be ruined, though.  They could definitely do it, but they never would.

However, I definitely agree that smaller companies with less to lose definitely are willing to cheat...and they've been caught many times, in fact.   

[raw-al]

If you doubt what Coke is capable of read "The Coke Machine". They are truly the scum of the earth with plenty of blood on their hands. Mostly in other countries, where it's "only brown PPL" Like South America and India. The Indians actually kicked them out.