BELGIUM: BELGIUM ENDS A SALES BAN ON COCA-COLA'S DRINKS AND ALLOWS IT TO RESUME PRODUCTION AT ITS TWO PLANTS

Record ID: 565811

  • Title: BELGIUM: BELGIUM ENDS A SALES BAN ON COCA-COLA'S DRINKS AND ALLOWS IT TO RESUME PRODUCTION AT ITS TWO PLANTS
  • Date: 24th June 1999
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JUNE 23, 1999) (RTN) (BELGIAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM)(RTV) 1. SLV/SV SETUP SHOTS OF PRESS CONFERENCE (4 SHTOS) 0.27 2. MCU BELGIAN MINISTER OF HEALTH LUC VAN DEN BOSSCHE: "I am willing to agree to a resumption of production if the following 5 conditions are met: (1) the use of fresh basic materials (2) cleaning of the plants and installations (3) enhancing the current safety measures (4) establishing a comprehensive and statistically adequate monitoring system of production and (5) the removal and disposal of all banned products. Therefore, the plants at Wilrijk and Ghent may resume production of all Coca-Cola brands. The drinks produced at Dunkirk (France) plant may not be imported as long as the French authorities have not released this plant for the Belgian market." 1.30 3. MCU MEDI (2 SHOTS) 1.39 4. MCU LUC VAN DEN BOSSCHE (MINISTER OF HEALTH) SAYING (FRENCH) "We take a risk, that's true, but it is not a big risk." 2.15 5. CU OF COCA-COLA BOTTLES PAN TO BOSSCHE 2.28 (PALAIS DE CONGRES, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM)(RTV) 6. LV OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE COCA-COLA COMPANY 2.30 7. MCU JOURNALIST 2.33 8. MCU DOUGLAS IVESTER (CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE COCA-COLA COMPANY) SAYING (ENGLISH) "We certainly welcome the decision taken by the Belgian minister of Health to allow the immediate return of the company's entire range of products and packages. We respect the minister's obligation to the people in these times of deep sensitivity regarding public health issues here. Nothing, I repeat nothing, is more important than protecting the public health. We have worked very closely with the minister to provide a significant amount of information, confirming the complete confidence in the safety of our products and packages. Our products are completely safe, both in Belgium and worldwide." 3.26 9. SV/LV MEDIA/PRESSROOM (2 SHOTS) 3.33 10. MCU DOUGLAS IVESTER (CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE COCA-COLA COMPANY) SAYING (ENGLISH) "Our number one priority is going to be to ensure the return of all the packages and products to our plants, so that we can have them destroyed. They will be destroyed in a environmentally appropiate manner. So that's the first priority that we have. The plants will start running tomorrow, we will start producing. My expectation is that it will take about two weeks to get in full distribution again." 4.07 11. SV MEDIA 4.11 12. MCU DOUGLAS IVESTER (CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE COCA-COLA COMPANY) SAYING (ENGLISH) "Quite honestly, we let the people of Belgium down, and we are sorry for that. But we are committed to do whatever it takes to earn their complete trust again." 4.25 13. SLV PRESS CONFERENCE 4.28 14. MCU DOUGLAS IVESTER DRINKING A COCA-COLA 'JUST FOR THE PICTURE' AS HE DESCRIBES IT 4.38 15. PAN/CU OF COCA-COLA'S APOLOGIES FOR THE DRINK SCARE, PUBLISHED IN ALL THE BELGIAN NEWSPAPERS ON TUESDAY (22/6/99) (2 SHOTS) 5.02 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 9th July 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Reuters ID: LVA6HFCB1AZWCSAXJXUAN1R4502G
  • Story Text: Coca-Cola said on Wednesday (June 23) it
    would do everything necessary to win back consumer confidence
    after Belgium ended a nine-day sales ban on Coke's key drinks
    and allowed it to resume production at its two plants there.

    We will spend whatever is required from a marketing
    standpoint," Coke Chairman and CEO Douglas Ivester told a
    Brussels news conference.

    "Quite honestly, I'm responsible.Anything that happens
    with Coca-Cola quality around the world is my responsibility," said
    Ivester, but said he had no plans to resign.

    Earlier Belgian Health Minister Luc Van den Bossche lifted
    the production ban imposed on Coca-Cola's key Coke, Sprite and
    Fanta drinks after over 200 drinkers suffered stomach cramps,
    vomiting, nausea and dizziness because of contamination.

    "We let the people of Belgium down, and we're sorry for
    that," Ivester said."Nothing is more important than protecting
    public health."
    Within minutes of his news conference, Ivester appeared in
    an advertisement on Belgian television apologising to consumers
    and promising to restore confidence in Coke.

    Coke's two bottling plants in Belgium were due to resume
    production on Thursday, and Coke drinks would be in full
    distribution in around two weeks, Ivester said.He said he hoped
    to continue Coke's expansion despite the scare.

    "Our objective is to double the size of our market in the
    next 10 years, and I see no reason why we can't do that in
    Europe as well," he said while drinking a Coke.

    Van den Bossche said the import of Coca-Cola products from
    the company's Dunkirk, France, bottling plant would remain
    banned until French authorities cleared production there for
    export.Coca-Cola has said fungicide got onto the surface of
    cans at the Dunkirk plant, with the odour making people feel ill
    when they drank from cans.

    A spokesman for Coca-Cola France told Reuters that French
    government tests proved its drinks were free of toxins.

    Coca-Cola also dismissed reports in French newspaper Le
    Monde that rat poison may have caused the contamination at
    Dunkirk.Le Monde also said France had opened an inquiry into a
    report the contamination was caused by toxic substances.

    But Van den Bossche said Coke's explanations for how the
    illnesses happened were inconclusive, and maintained a ban on
    Coca-Cola vending machines in Belgium until there was "absolute
    certainty" that the products were safe.

    Coke has said carbon dioxide used to carbonate drinks at a
    plant near Antwerp, Belgium, was contaminated with a sulphur
    compound, and the fungicide on cans from Dunkirk smelled so bad
    they had made people ill.

    "We're taking a risk, that's true, but not a big risk," said
    Van den Bossche, sitting at a table spread with bottles of Coke.

    He insisted his decision was made independent of Coca-Cola,
    and said the public may have overreacted to the problem,
    increasing the number of people who thought they had been made
    ill by drinking Coke.

    Van den Bossche said the issue had become more complicated
    when he was informed that there had been an extortion attempt
    linked to Coca-Cola in Germany during the second week of May,
    with a ransom demand for several million marks and threats
    against the quality of Coke drinks.But he said he was satisfied
    there was no link with the problems in Belgium.

    The company gave no estimates on how much the crisis would
    cost, or the volume of stocks which would have to be destroyed.

    "We can't give a firm estimate at this time," said Henry
    Schimberg, president and chief executive of Coca-Cola
    Enterprises, Coke's 40 percent-owned bottling subsidiary which
    operates the two Belgian plants.

    Coca-Cola shares on the New York Stock Exchange were up
    $1/8 at 62-7/8 at 1845 GMT.Shares of Coca-Cola Enterprises were
    down 1/16 at 32-9/16.

    Belgium last Thursday had relaxed a sales ban on Coca-Cola
    drinks imposed on June 14, but had kept in place the ban on
    Coca-Cola's most popular brands Coke, Fanta and Sprite.

    Millions of cans and bottles of Coke drinks have been pulled
    from stores across Europe since the scare broke two weeks ago.


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