BELGIUM: BELGIAN AUTHORITIES BAN THE SALE OF COCA-COLA AND RELATED PRODUCTS BECAUSE OF THE HEALTH SCARE

Record ID: 629397

  • Title: BELGIUM: BELGIAN AUTHORITIES BAN THE SALE OF COCA-COLA AND RELATED PRODUCTS BECAUSE OF THE HEALTH SCARE
  • Date: 15th June 1999
  • Summary: MCU (French) PAPANIKOLAOU " It's the total confusion in addition to the financial losses. I think that for this month a lot of enterprises and restaurants will have to close their businesses." MCU (French) PIERRE WATTS, COOK AT MEZE RESTAURANT " I almost never suffer from stomach or headaches. I think that I'm in good health. It came abruptly when I took a Coca, a Coca-Co
  • Embargoed: 30th June 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Health,Economy
  • Reuters ID: LVA8CUPKAL15FIJRTZ5TXTHSEYTM
  • Story Text: Belgian authorities have banned the sale of Coca-Cola and related products as part of the latest health scare to sweep the country.
    The Belgian Health Ministry on Monday ordered all Coca-Cola Co.products withdrawn from sale in Belgium after the drinks were suspected of making scores of schoolchildren ill.
    A statement from the ministry also advised Belgians not to drink any Coca-Cola products they had at home.It said people who vomited or suffered from severe stomach aches after drinking the products should consult a doctor.
    The order comes as Belgians are reeling from a crisis over cancer-causing dioxin in animal feed, which led to a range of meats, eggs and dairy products being pulled from supermarket shelves last week.
    Drinks covered by the Belgian order included Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light, Fanta, Sprite, Nestea, Aquarius lemon, orange and grapefruit, Bon Aqua, Kinley tonic and Lift.
    Coca-Cola drinks are suspected of making more than 100 school children ill in Belgium over the last six days.
    The Health Ministry said it had ordered the products withdrawn from sale because of the new cases of illness and because a poison centre had found cases of haemolysis, or the loss of haemoglobin from red blood cells, among people who had drunk Coca-Cola.The condition causes anaemia.
    Coca-Cola products would remain barred in Belgium until the company could show the exact cause of the problem and that it had taken all necessary measures to prevent new cases of illness, the Ministry said.
    U.S.-based Coca-Cola, the world's largest soft drink company, last week recalled 2.5 million bottles of Coke, Diet Coke and Fanta bottled in Ghent and Wilrijk, Belgium, and some can batches of Coke, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite produced in Dunkirk, France.
    The Belgian Health Ministry said earlier on Monday that the recall had been extended to cover about 15 million cans and bottles.
    A Coca-Cola spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment, but Coca-Cola spokeswoman Shelagh Kerr had told Reuters earlier that tests by the company had found nothing toxic in the beverages.
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