Coca-Cola demands probe into fungicide rumor

BEIJING - A senior Coca-Cola China executive said on Tuesday that the company has filed a police report about recent rumors that its orange juice contains illegal fungicide, and will hold the perpetrators legally responsible.

"We take the move not only to safeguard the reputation of our brand, but also to help create a fair and healthy business environment, an environment where virtue is rewarded and vice punished," said Bai Changbo, vice-president of Coca-Cola Greater China.

In recent days, report have circulated on the Internet saying that Coca-Cola China has admitted in a TV program that its orange juice products contain fungicide. The substance, called Carbendazim, is not registered in the United States.

The report said the TV program is Topics in Focus, one of the most-watched shows on China Central Television (CCTV). The report supposedly warned customers not to drink any more Coca-Cola orange juice products.

According to Coca-Cola, the reports are untrue and Topics in Focus has never made any such program.

A Xinhua reporter on Tuesday contacted CCTV to ask about the program. Its news center suggested Xinhua refer to the CCTV website, where all the previous episodes of Topics in Focus have been posted.

Xinhua's reporter searched the website, but could not find anything about Carbendazim in Coca-Cola products.

Coca-Cola said the rumor stems from an issue with Brazilian orange products a year ago, but that the truth had been distorted.

At that time, the company discovered that Carbendazim, which is not approved for use on citrus in the United States, is used to combat mold on orange trees in Brazil, which is a major source of orange juice for the world.

The Coca-Cola headquarters immediately alerted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as it believed it was an industrial issue that affects every company that produces products in the United States using orange juice from Brazil.

The FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency said after risk assessment that orange juice from Brazil is safe to drink.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola China sent samples of orange juice imported from Brazil to China's National Food Quality Supervision and Inspection Center.

A report released on January 19, 2012 by the center said the amount of Carbendazim in the samples submitted by Coca-Cola "can not be measurable."

American soft drink giant Coca-Cola has been in China for more than three decades. The company is estimated to have invested an accumulated 9 billion dollars in China by 2014.