Coca-Cola reassures product safety in China

Beijing, May 1 (IANS) The Coca-Cola Company has reassured its product safety after completing major corrective measures undertaken at the request of a quality watchdog in a Chinese province.

The beverage giant's bottling plant in Shanxi province was asked to suspend production and take corrective actions last Saturday by Shanxi provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision after investigations into news reports said some products by the plant on a certain date were mixed with chlorine, Xinhua reported.

Su Yan, an official of the bottling plant, said corrective actions on all the major issues have been completed.

"We have moved quickly to address the major issues identified by the Shanxi provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision," said Su.

In a statement, Coca-Cola Shanxi Beverages Co. Ltd. admitted that some of its products were contaminated by chlorine in February during a routine maintenance procedure.

Water in production facilities with small amounts of chlorine flowed into water used for producing drinks during a pipe refitting project Feb 3 due to errors in operation, the statement said.

The company apologised for the production of nine batches of contaminated products between Feb 4 and 8. However, it reassured that the nine batches of beverages produced by the plant between Feb 4 and 8 were safe to consume and posed no harm to human health.