Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) reiterated today that the large-scale recall of products due to excessive chlorate content is being carried out only in the European countries mentioned on Monday, from which Portugal is excluded.
“This was an identified and isolated occurrence, and as mentioned it only affects the countries mentioned. We can confirm that products produced in Portugal are not affected by this situation”, said CCEP, in a written response to Lusa.
On Monday, Coca-Cola’s European bottler in Belgium announced a large-scale recall of products in Europe due to excessive chlorate content, which concerns cans and glass bottles of Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Fuze Tea, Minute Maid, Nalu, Royal Bliss and Tropico, which were distributed in Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Luxembourg, and which have been in circulation since the end of November.
“We don’t have an exact number, but it’s clear that we’re talking about a considerable amount,” Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Belgium told AFP.
“The majority of the unsold products in question have already been removed from store shelves and we continue to take steps to remove all remaining products from the market,” the company said.
The bottler, which has apologized, asks that the products in question not be consumed and added that they can be returned to the point of sale for a refund.
“At our production site in Ghent, we are carrying out tests as part of our control and regulatory compliance procedures and these tests have identified elevated levels of chlorate,” the company explained.
In a 2015 scientific opinion, the European Food Safety Authority considered that long-term exposure to chlorate in food could pose a potential health problem for children, especially those with mild to moderate iodine deficiency.