ArmenPress
March 10 2004

COCA COLA BOTTLERS ARMENIA SAYS ITS DRINKS SAFE

YEREVAN, MARCH 11, ARMENPRESS: A senior representative of
Coca-Cola Bottlers Armenia brushed aside fears that locally produced
soft drink may be dangerous to public health. Fears appeared after
reports that Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in India sold soft drinks
containing pesticides harmful to human health and misled India’s 1
billion people over claims that their products were safe for human
consumption. Tests by campaigners showed Pepsi’s soft drinks had 36
times the level of pesticide residues permitted under EU regulations
and Coca-Cola’s had 30 times the level.
Coca-Cola Bottlers Armenia representative said the concentrates
used for manufacturing Indian and Armenian DRINKS are different.
“Armenian Coca-Cola is safe for consumption,” he said, adding that
Coca- Cola Armenia, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Hellenic Holding,
receives the concentrate, like its 25 other subsidiaries in Europe,
from France, which meets all EU regulations and is regularly tested
by an Armenian laboratory and a centralized laboratory in Brussels.