Substandard

Substandard

Soft drinks contain two key constituents -- roughly 89 per cent water and 10 per cent sugar. The rest of the 1 per cent is made up of a secret ingredient and carbon dioxide. This is what the companies told jpc. With standards for water set, the question to resolve was the amount of pesticide residues contributed by sugar, so that the final product standard could be set. This issue was brought to jpc where the health ministry (now devising lengthy studies) had deposed that "the pesticide residue in sugar and the quantity of sugar used in soft drinks is so small that it is not likely to increase the pesticide residue in the final product". Soft drink companies also told jpc in written submissions that they had a fool-proof system of procuring high-quality sugar and a system to treat the sugar syrup by a hot carbon process during which pesticide residues are eliminated. jpc asked them to submit data, which they did. This data showed little presence of pesticides in sugar. It was for two samples tested by the Hyderabad-based vimta Labs in October 2003. On the basis of this evidence, jpc asked for the final product standard to be formulated.

But cola companies made veiled threats of importing sugar if the final product standard was pursued. The sugar issue came to bis. In July 2004, both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola wrote to top officials of the department of consumer affairs complaining against bis officials. They claimed they had proof that "confirms the presence of pesticide residues in sugar available in India" and wanted this to be taken into account. The standards committee, when it met next, asked the companies to submit their evidence. The companies submitted the data for the same two samples it had given to jpc many months ago.

A careful scrutiny of this data showed that in all samples pesticides were below the 1 part per billion (ppb) level. More data was called for. Two more sugar sample data was given by companies to the committee. But the analysis was the same: tests done by the Netherlands-based tno labs in February 2004 and the London-based Central Analytical Lab, earlier in September 2003, detected negligible pesticide residues. But the companies were still not satisfied. More data was called for. In early 2005, the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition submitted data on pesticide residues in sugar. Analysis of 11 samples showed no presence of pesticide in sugar.

But this was not sufficient. Even more tests were called for. In October 2005, vimta Labs submitted data for 135 samples, which they tested for 50 pesticides. Their analysis revealed the contribution of sugar to the pesticide content in the final soft drink was well below the draft standard of 0.1 ppb for individual pesticide and 0.5 ppb for total pesticides.

It was further pointed out that these tests were done on raw sugar. Both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola had submitted to jpc that they treated sugar through a hot carbon process, which reduced the pesticide content further. Based on this information, the committee decided to finalise the standard. It agreed that the standard for pesticide residues in water should be mandated for the final product.

Companies say
Their final product cannot be tested because it has a complex matrix. They say standards are never set for the final product, only the raw material
Water and sugar make up soft drinks, which is hardly complex. Globally, governments test routinely for contaminants at sub-ppb levels for all products sold to consumers -- from baby food to tinned food. In fact, governments test the same soft drinks for pesticide residues in different countries. In India, government laboratories tested soft drinks to check their pesticide residues. Ironically, the two soft drink majors also tested their product to prove their safety. One company used the results of the London-based laboratory to give itself a clean chit. How do the companies know that their product is 'safe' if it cannot be tested?

Top analytical chemists in the country discussed this issue in the bis committee. Their unanimous view was that methods to test soft drinks exist and that, after the standard was finalised, bis would prepare the protocol for measurement to be used by all laboratories.

Industry, not just soft drink companies, does not want standards for the final product. They believe that standards should be set only for constituents -- water and the sugar, not the beverage. They say pesticide standards for final products, which are multi-ingredient, cannot be done. They assert it is not done anywhere in the world. But the facts are different. Governments have pesticide residue standards for cereal-based food and infant food, for butter, for cheese and even ice-cream. Governments are learning they need to work at both ends -- standardise maximum residue levels allowed on the raw materials as well as on the manufactured foods, so that industrial units can adopt technologies for cleaning up contaminants.

The principle for setting standards is obvious: the pesticide residue allowances of different ingredients, proportional to their presence in the product, are added to make a final product standard.

In other words, 89 per cent of the pesticide residue water standard is added to 10 per cent of the pesticide residues contributed through sugar. In the final bis standard, the data on pesticide residues from sugar, presented by the companies, showed that this contribution would be negligible and so, the water standard for pesticide residues, which is 89 per cent of the product, was adopted.