The Hindu : Sushma clarifies on soft drinks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 22, 2003

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Sushma clarifies on soft drinks

The following is the statement by Sushma Swaraj, Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs, made in the Lok Sabha today, regarding reports in newspapers on pesticide residues in soft drinks:

A report on analysis of pesticide residues in soft drinks conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), an NGO based in Delhi, was recently covered prominently by the media. The spokesperson of the CSE had alleged in the said report that in the case of 12 soft drink brands, of which samples had been taken, the CSE found pesticide residues which exceeded EU norms ranging from 11 to 70 times. Hon'ble Members may kindly recall that on 6th August 2003 serious apprehension was expressed in the House on the quality of soft drinks and their safety from the health point of view, especially for popular brands like Pepsi and Coca Cola, manufactured and marketed in the country.

I would first like to apprise the Hon'ble Members of the legal position with regard to safety standards of soft drinks in our country. Soft drinks are non-alcoholic beverages, categorised as sweetened carbonated water under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Rules. There are standards prescribed for the percentage of total sugar expressed as sucrose, total plate count per ml, coliform count in 100 ml, yeast and mould count per ml. Individual limits of metal contaminants namely, lead, copper, arsenic, tin, zinc, cadmium and mercury have been prescribed under the PFA Rules for carbonated water. There are no separate limits at present set for pesticide residues under the PFA Rules for sweetened carbonated water which includes all the soft drinks.

Soft drink manufacture is covered under Fruit Products Order 1955 administered by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries. In part II (D) of the said Order, soft drinks are defined as aerated water, meaning potable water impregnated with carbon dioxide under pressure in a properly sealed container. The Bureau of Indian Standards also lays down standards for carbonated beverages but they do not lay down any standards for water. So far as the other constituents are concerned, the standards are harmonised with PFA specifications which are mentioned earlier. The term `potable water' finds mention in the PFA Rules which state that wherever water is used in the manufacture or in preparation of any article of food, such water shall be free from micro organisms likely to cause disease and also free from chemical constituents which may impair health.

The House may recall that the Govt. of India has recently issued a Notification prescribing limits for pesticides in packaged drinking water. These limits are as per EU norms and will become applicable from 1st January 2004. This was done on the basis of the recommendation of an Expert Group constituted by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to examine standards under various national laws, including FDA and EU norms.

I would now like to inform the Hon'ble Members of the action we have taken following the report published by the CSE. We have collected samples for analysis from the market for the 12 brands of soft drinks belonging to the same bottling units from which the CSE had collected the samples. Two sets of samples were sent to the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, and the Central Food Laboratory (CFL), Kolkata, for analysis. The results have since been received from both the laboratories. The CFTRI has reported that out of 12 samples, pesticide residues were below the EU limits in three samples. In the remaining 9, where they were found above the limits, the number of times the residues are higher than EU limits ranges from 1.6 to 5.2 whereas the CSE report alleges that the number of times the residues are higher than the EU limits ranges from 11 to 70 times. Results from the CFL, Kolkata, also state that in 3 samples, the total pesticide residues were below the EU limits whereas in the other 9 samples, the number of times the residues are higher varies from 1.2 to 5.22. Another important observation of both the laboratories is that Malathion, which was alleged to be 87 times the EU limit as per the CSE report, was found to be totally absent in all the samples. The CFTRI has also conducted an additional sophisticated test using GCMS method for identification of the molecular structure of all the pesticides contained in the samples. This is a confirmatory test not done by the CSE.

The results clearly show that all the 12 samples do not have pesticide residues of the high order as was alleged in the CSE report. In some cases, they are well below the EU standards and in some, a few times higher than the EU limit. However, according to the standards prescribed under PFA Rules, all these are well within the safety limits as per the existing standards of packaged drinking water. It is also to be noted that the assertion of the soft drink manufacturers that their product is within the EU limits has also not proved to be correct for 100 per cent of the samples.

In the meantime Hon'ble Members are aware that the Delhi High Court in its order dated 11th August 2003 on a petition made by the representatives of M/s. Pepsi have asked the Central Government to test the samples of the products manufactured by the petitioner in a laboratory which has the wherewithal to test samples. They have asked for the results to be made available within three weeks.

I would like to assure the Hon'ble Members that the soft drinks tested are well within the safety limits prescribed for packaged drinking water at present. I would also like to assure the Hon'ble Members that despite the fact that the existing standards of safety are met by the soft drink manufacturers, the Government is considering to introduce EU norms for water content in soft drinks from the date from which the norms would be made applicable for packaged drinking water to bring in harmonisation of standards. The Government would also ask the CCFS to examine application of these standards to other beverages also where water is the main constituent.

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