Poisoned Belgian Coke 'on UK sale'

SOFT-DRINK cans contaminated with chemicals that made more than 100 Belgians sick could be on sale in Britain, Coca-Cola admitted.

But the company said that they would only be on sale at small independent retailers that had circumvented its official sales channels and imported them from the Continent. Yesterday's disclosure followed a day in which the world's biggest soft-drinks company fought a public relations battle to calm fears while millions of drinks - including such brands as Fanta, Minute Maid, Sprite and Lilt - were taken off supermarket shelves in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Last night, the company's problems were compounded when the French government banned the sale of cans of Coca-Cola, Diet Coca-Cola and other brands. Marylise Lebranchu, Secretary of State at the Finance Ministry, said that the government had acted because it was not satisfied by Coca-Cola's explanations. Two French people who bought Coca-Cola products at a supermarket near the Belgian border were among those who have fallen ill, the French Health Ministry said yesterday.

Late yesterday, Philippe Lenfant, director-general of the company's Belgian arm, offered the suggestion that a bottling plant in Antwerp had used the "wrong" carbon dioxide to add fizz to some of the soft-drink bottles.

In France, a drinks industry official suggested that fungicide on pallets used to transport the cans from Dunkirk to Belgium had caused some of the cases. Tests continued last night.

"I think it's scandalous." said a pregnant Belgian, who had stomach cramps and contractions for four days after drinking Coca-Cola from a can that had rust-like patches and smelt bad.

The action followed the second poisoning incident in a week. On Monday, 40 children from a school in Ghent and a further eight children and adults in another town in Flanders were taken to hospital after complaining of vomiting, headaches and stomach cramps. Last week, 35 children in Antwerp fell ill.

In Britain, the company insisted that it would not withdraw its products from sale, and that it had no way of finding out who might have imported contaminated cans from the Continent.

"We believe the numbers would be negligible, but we have no idea how many there would be," said a spokesman for Coca-Cola Great Britain. We are not allowed, under European law, to ask where vendors have bought cans from," he added.

The Belgian Health Ministry said that a toxicology centre had found cases of haemolysis, a blood disorder that causes the destruction of red corpuscles, among two consumers of Coca-Cola who had fallen ill. Before last night's surprise statement by the company, a spokeswoman for the Belgian government said that there had been "no explanation whatsoever on behalf of the Coca- Cola company".

Belgium's new Health Minister, Luc Van den Bossche, told consumers not to panic, but criticised Coca-Cola's lack of co-operation in handling the scare. "It's a bit disturbing that a big firm with worldwide fame... did not take far-reaching measures more spontaneously and more promptly," he said on television.

However, the company itself pointed out that its customers had complained of an unpleasant smell on the product's packaging, and said it had not yet ruled out sabotage.

The scare followed Belgium's dioxin food safety scandal, renewing disruption in supermarkets, where Coca-Cola products were taken off shelves. Brussels shoppers seemed confused by the latest incident: some shunned products from Coca-Cola's rivals, such as Pepsi, although they have not been implicated in the crisis.

Food Scare Scandals

HEINZ BABY FOOD:

In 1989 Heinz had to withdraw baby food worth an estimated pounds 30m when Rodney Whitchelo, a former Scotland Yard detective, attempted to extort millions of pounds from the food giant by spiking the food with bleach and razor blades. He was later sentenced to 17 years in jail.

PERRIER WATER:

Sales of Perrier water were hit in 1990 when traces of carcinogenic benzene were found in bottles in the United States. The company belatedly withdrew 160 million bottles worldwide at a cost of pounds 150m. Sales of a billion bottles a year fell to 700 million by 1994.

LUCOZADE:

Millions of bottles of Lucozade were withdrawn from shops in 1991 after police uncovered a contamination attempt by animal rights activists. It cost Smith-Kline Beecham, the drink's manufacturer, an estimated pounds 1m. Two years later 12 million bottles of the drink were taken off shelves because of concern that the necks could break when they were opened.

FIZZY DRINKS:

In June last year millions of bottles and cans of Pepsi, Tango, 7-Up and other fizzy drinks were removed from the shelves after fears that the carbon dioxide content had been contaminated by benzene at a plant in the West Country.