Amritsar, Oct 07: A team headed by a Union Minister today raided a local cola filling unit and seized at least five "contaminated" bottles. Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries N T Shanmugam told reporters he along with an official team conducted a raid at Amritsar crown corporation limited where Coca-Cola bottles, which were ready to be filled, were found full of dust.
"The bottles being used for refilling were also noticed contaminated since the bottles were old as the life of one bottle is not more than six years,” he said.
Even the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), which took serious notice of the reported use of synthetic chemicals instead of organic contents by soft drink units, has asked all ministries concerned to file comprehensive report over the violations being committed by the soft drink units, he said.
A lot of discrepancies had been detected during surprise checks in several cola units across the country, he said.
He said he had conducted surprise inspections at the various Pepsi and Coca-Cola filling units in Tamil Nadu, Delhi Chennai and found "expired" materials with "unhygienic conditions".
At Chennai, soft drink units were adding synthetic flavours he said adding all such units had been ordered to destroy such material that could cause damage to human lives.
Bureau Report