Pepsi, Coke dismiss CSE charge

Under attack over the alleged "excessive" presence of pesticides in their soft drinks, Pepsi and Coca-Cola on Tuesday dismissed the charge as "baseless" and threatened to take legal action against the Centre for Science and Environment a non-governmental organisation.

The multinational companies said the pesticide residues in their products were well within the limits set by the European Union.

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"The report (of the Centre for Science and Environment) is baseless and should be disregarded forthwith. We conform to all norms and are open to all testing by an internationally accredited independent laboratory and by experienced people," chairman of Pepsico Holdings Rajiv Bakshi and Coca-Cola India president and CEO Sanjiv Gupta told a joint news conference.

The conference was hurriedly convened in the wake of a report released earlier in the day by CSE, which alleged the presence of pesticides in soft drinks manufactured by the two multinationals.

"Our product is world-class and the same as what we sell in Europe and the US. These are tested by top-grade laboratories like VIMTA in Hyderabad and TNO in Netherlands," they said.