India's top court upholds order Pepsi and Coca-Cola labels carry warnings
Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been ordered by India's Supreme Court to clearly state the extent, if any, of pesticide residues in their soft drinks on the product labels.
The court this week ruled that consumers had the right to know what they were drinking and upheld an order by a court in Rajasthan state requiring the companies to list all the ingredients - including inadvertent ones - in their soft drinks.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi had challenged the order, with each saying its products in India were completely safe and met the highest international standards.
Coca-Cola's lawyer, Harish Salve, told the Supreme Court that the presence of pesticides stemmed from Indian farmers' heavy use of them. The chemicals had seeped into the ground and later into drinking water, he said.
The ruling is a blow to the companies, which between them control the sales of soft drinks in India. Even if labels state that the level of pesticides contained in drinks is well within safe limits, such health warnings are likely to reduce sales.
The precise wording on the labels will be decided by the Rajasthan High Court. In the earlier ruling, the judge indicated that the following warning would suffice: 'The contents may have traces of pesticide which [are] well below the prescribed standard.'