Gujarat and Rajasthan ban colas from schools

Aerated drinks have been banned from hundreds of state school and college canteens in Gujarat after pesticides were found by CSE in the drinks produced by the Indian arms of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The state's education minister said that they don't want to sell them in educational institutions until they were sure about the contents. The ban will apply to 300 colleges and 600 schools in Gujarat. In a study released last week by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found an average pesticide residue of 11.85 parts per billion in 57 samples of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo drinks produced in 12 Indian states. This is about 24 times higher than limits agreed upon, but not yet enforced, by the Bureau of Indian Standards. A similar study in 2003 by the same organisation briefly dented sales of the two companies' drinks when it reported levels of pesticide in excess of international standards, highlighting weak food safety laws in the country. In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Indian Soft Drink Manufacturers' Association, both companies said that their drinks were safe and they held consumer safety paramount. The CSE said pesticide levels were not necessarily any higher in cola than in other foods and drinks routinely consumed by Indians. The difference is that soft drinks do not have enough nutritional value to make consuming trace amounts of pesticide worth the trade-off. Following the study's release, Rajasthan also banned Coke and Pepsi drinks from all the state's educational institutions.