[Newspoetry] put this in 'yer bottling plant

[Sam Patterson]

BBC News story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/the_company_file/newsid_369000/369684.stm

Business: The Company File

             European warning over
             Coca-Cola

             Coca Cola products have been withdrawn from sale in Belgium

             Coca-Cola drinks in four European countries are now
             affected by the latest Belgian health scare crisis.

             The company has said it has identified two possible
             causes for the poisoning of about 100 Belgian school
             children.

             The director-general of Coca-Cola Enterprises Belgium,
             Philippe Lenfant, told a news conference that a bottling
             plant in Antwerp had used the "wrong" carbon dioxide to
             put the fizz in soft drinks bottles.

             Cans produced in France for the Belgian market,
             meanwhile, were contaminated with a fungicide used to
             treat "a small number" of transportation pallets.

             According to the Belgian authorities, the drinks had
             triggered a blood disorder that causes the destruction of
             red blood cells among people who had drunk Coca-Cola.

                  The European Commission has now alerted all
                  EU member countries to the possible threat
                  posed by Coca-Cola drinks.
                  The Belgian authorities have removed all
                  beverages made by the company from the
                  shelves.
                  Luxembourg followed suit on Tuesday and
                  ordered Coca-Cola products to be removed from
                  its shelves as a precaution although there have
                  not been any cases of poisoning in the country.
                  France has withdrawn drinks bottled at Coca-Cola
                  plant at Dunkirk near the Belgian border.
                  And in the Netherlands, the Coca-Cola company
                  itself has withdrawn all its Belgian-produced
                  beverages that were on sale there.

             Risk list


                           A list of suspect drinks produced by
                           the company has now been issued to
                           European Union countries by the
                           commission. They include not just
                           Coke itself, but other Coca-Cola
                           brands like Fanta, Sprite, Nestea,
                           Kinley tonic, Lift and juice drinks sold
             under the Minute Maid name as well as Bon Aqua and
             Aquarius lemon, orange and grapefruit.

             A Coca-Cola spokeswoman told Belgium radio that the
             cause of the problem remained a mystery.

             "We are searching frantically and hope to have a
             definitive answer in the next few days," she said.

             A spokesman for the European Commission said he
             believed the problem was mainly confined to Belgium
             and the company's bottling plants there, but France and
             the Netherlands may have received some exports.


                                 As yet the cause of the
                                 poisoning is not known, and
                                 the company says tests have
                                 found nothing toxic in the
                                 drinks. But about 100
                                 children have fallen ill with
                                 symptoms of nausea and
                                 headaches, and a number
                                 have been taken to hospital.

                                 This latest sales ban comes
                                 as Belgium is still reeling
                                 from a food scare linked to
                                 the contamination of meat
             and eggs by the cancer-causing chemical, dioxin.

             That led the government to ban sales of chicken, pork,
             beef, eggs and meat products.

             Coca-Cola has been active in Belgium for 70 years. It
             has large bottling operations in Antwerp and Ghent.

             UK concern

             A spokesman for Coca-Cola in the UK said he could not
             confirm that none of the affected cans had found their
             way into Britain.

             It is not uncommon for cans of Coke produced in France
             and the rest of Europe to be on sale in the UK.

             Shop owners take advantage of the cheaper prices in
             other European states and sell the product on to UK
             consumers.

             The spokesman explained: "No Coca-Cola brands
             produced and packaged in the UK are affected by the
             situation in Belgium.

             "As far as I know, tests are being conducted on the
             products involved and initial results point to packaging
             problems.

             "However, we can't stop anyone importing our products
             into the UK from the rest of the European Union. That
             would be unlawful. It is possible that Belgian product is
             in the UK but we have no knowledge of that."