Pesticide–in–Cola controversy: Lab corroborates CSE's claim, but expert committee says 'finding inconclusive'

In what may come as a big relief to PepsiCo's claim of following high standards in maintaining quality and safety of its soft drink products, the expert committee appointed by the Centre to review the New Delhi–based private research group, Centre for Science and Environment's (CSE) report on pesticide residues in soft drinks, has rejected the result findings, saying it cannot be accepted on "face value."

Earlier, the National Test House (NTH), a central government laboratory has supported the allegations of CSE which reported that the soft drinks manufactured by the world's two largest soft drink manufacturers, Coca–Cola and PepsiCo, had high levels of pesticides in them.

According to NTH, which recently equipped itself with all the necessary state–of–the–art testing equipment, Pepsi had pesticides almost three times the permissible limit though the pesticide content in Coca Cola samples were within the permissible limit.

"We have found the presence of pesticides in a sample of Pepsi. I would not comment further on the matter. The report has been sent to the state consumer affairs department," Hindustan Times quoted R.N. Mukherjee, director NTH, as saying.

"We have received the central lab test report on cold drink samples. But I am yet to go through it. We will take necessary steps if we find pesticide content in the samples cross the minimum limit," Consumer Affairs Minister, Naren Dey, said.

The consumer affairs department had sent some samples of Coca Cola and Pepsi to the NTH lab to verify pesticide content after the CSE's claim sparked off countrywide controversy.

Senior NTH officials said that the total presence of pesticides – like choloropyrophos – in the Pepsi sample was almost three times the minimum 0.5 parts per billion level (PPB), as per European standards. The individual presence of residual pesticides had also crossed the permissible limit – 0.1 PPB level.

"The tests of the cold drink samples have taken about two weeks to determine the residual contents. We have well–equipped modern test facilities in the state," Mukherjee said, adding that in India there is no standards for pesticide content in cold drinks and they are dependant on European standards.

"Concerned authorities both at the Centre and state should look into this matter," he said.

However, the expert committee has concluded that based on the information and data provided earlier and subsequently by the CSE, the results and conclusions reached by the CSE in their report cannot be accepted on its face value and the data provided.

According to the second report of the eight–member committee, which was put out on the health and family welfare website, the laboratory where the tests were conducted does not of itself demonstrate the competence of the laboratory to produce technically valid data and results.

It also noted that sampling procedure followed in collecting the samples does not mention the quantity of each samples and it is left to speculation as how much quantity of each brand (of different batch) was collected.

The CSE claimed that the quantity of sample (500 ml) extracted was sufficient to give clear quantifiable results about pesticide residues in soft drinks. However, the committee members said that there is a deviation from the recommended method.

Nonetheless, the report stated that since, the sampling itself is far from satisfactory, the results may also not be accepted beyond the reasonable explanation.