This year California passed a law about labeling foods which contain carcinogens. This law would have mandated that both Coke and Pepsi include a warning label, due to the carcinogenic properties of the caramel color that they use to give their beverages their signature cola look.
The chemical in question is 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MEI to its friends. This chemical forms when industrial caramel coloring is subjected to heat, as happens during the process of making Coke, Pepsi, and a number of other foods which are colored brown thanks to this helpful dye.
In March, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi promised that they would remove the harmful chemical from their sodas. An environmental group recently did a series of tests and found that while Coke has successfully removed the carcinogen from their soda, Pepsi continues to be mildly carcinogenic.
Pepsi is pointing the fingers at its suppliers, who (it says) promised that they would remove the carcinogen from their caramel color. Pepsi also defensively pointed out that the amount of 4-MEI in its soda is still considered acceptable by the FDA and by many other countries throughout the world.
(Yeah, California! You're sooooo picky about your carcinogens! Why be such a spoilsport, hmmm?)
Pepsi furthermore has promised that 4-MEI will be removed from its California sodas by February 2014, a full year after the initial deadline. It also added that 4-MEI will eventually be removed from its sodas destined for the rest of the country, and worldwide. However, Pepsi has provided no timeline for this switch.
Meanwhile, the testing lab has found that while Coke products both in and out of California tested negative for any 4-MEI, Pepsi from both California and the rest of the country contains levels of 4-Mel which are between 4 and 8 times higher than California safety regulations require.
Image courtesy Flickr/Guillo75
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