Coca-Cola internal investigation finds no product-quality issue with its Minute Maid Pulpy Super Milky juice drinks in China after child who drank from a bottle died and three others fell ill

Nevin Barich

LOS ANGELES , December 2, 2011 (Industry Intelligence) – Coca-Cola Co. said an internal investigation has found no product-quality issue with its Minute Maid Pulpy Super Milky juice drinks in China after a child who drank from a bottle died and three others fell ill, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 2.

Police in the northeastern province of Jilin say they found traces of the toxic pesticide carbamate in partially consumed bottles of the drink recovered from a local hospital where the victims sought treatment.

Coca-Cola spokeswoman Joanna Price said that authorities in Changchun, the capital of Jilin, had pinpointed two bottles of the strawberry-flavored variety of the drink as the source of the poisoning. She declined to comment on whether the drinks might have been poisoned after bottling.

Coca-Cola tested its product line and found no other contaminated bottles., Price said. Coca-Cola has pulled all Minute Maid Pulpy Super Milky drinks from shop shelves in Changchun, and the strawberry-flavored variety from the entire province.

A spokeswoman for the Changchun city government declined to comment on whether authorities planned to open a criminal investigation. Police authorities in Jilin also declined to comment.

The primary source of this article is The Wall Street Journal, New York, New York, on Dec. 2, 2011.

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