Taking serious cognizance of reported presence of high level of pesticides and insecticides in Coca-Cola, Pepsi and ten other soft drink brands, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday said samples of cold drinks in the state would be sent to laboratories for examination.
"As a precautionary measure, the state government will test samples of cold drinks from the bottling plants across the state," Food and Drugs Administration commissioner Uttam Khobragade said in a statement in Mumbai.
The bottling plants of Coca-Cola are at Thane, Raigad, Pune, Nashik and Aurangabad.
Khobragade warned that if tests prove the presence of insecticides in the soft drinks then the administration will cancel licenses given to these plants.
The state government adopted a tough stance following reports of the tests conducted by Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of the Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based NGO.
According to the PML tests all samples contained residues of four extremely toxic pesticides and insecticides: lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos.