Pesticides row | Coke questions ban

Pushed to the wall over findings of pesticides in its soft drinks, Coca Cola questions ban slapped on it by states.

Pushed to the wall over findings of pesticide residues in its soft drinks, Coca Cola on Friday questioned the ban slapped on it by state governments, saying that pesticide levels in its products were well within the stringent European Union standards.

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"No detectable level of pesticides (were found) in Indian soft drinks when measured against the EU criteria in independent lab study," a Coca-Cola India statement said.

The statement follows action taken by a number of state governments, including Kerala, which had banned production and sale of colas in the state, a move that was dubbed as "arbitrary" by angry industry chambers.

Apex chambers FICCI and CII had on Thursday stated that the arbitrary decisions by the state governments could affect the investment climate in the country.

"We are concerned that apparently arbitrary decisions have been taken to ban manufacture and sale of carbonated beverages without going through the due process of law," CII President R Seshasayee had said.

Coke in its statement asserted that its soft drinks have been regularly tested and evaluated by a world renowned UK government laboratory, Central Science Laboratories (CSL), and conformed to the stringent standards.

"All tests show that our soft drinks are below the EU criteria for pesticide residues in bottled water," the cola giant said.