Coke, Pepsi change production process to avoid cancer warning
Coca-cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. are changing the way they make the caramel coloring used in their sodas as a result of a California law that mandates drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens bear a cancer warning label.
The companies said the changes would be expanded nationally to streamline their manufacturing processes. They’ve already been made for drinks sold in California.
Coca-cola and Pepsico account for almost 90% 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 Assn., which represents the broader industry, said its member companies would continue to use caramel coloring 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 4-methylimida-zole, a chemical that 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-ciarlante said.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a conto sumer advocacy group, in February filed a petition with the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of ammonia-sulfite caramel coloring.
A spokesman for the FDA said the petition was being reviewed. But he noted that a consumer would have to drink more than 1,000 cans of soda a day reach the doses administered that have shown links to cancer in rodents.
The American Beverage Assn. said California added the coloring to its list of carcinogens with no studies showing that it causes cancer in humans.
The association said the listing was based on a single study in lab mice and rats.