Coca-Cola issues European safety recall over 'excessively high chlorate content'

Coca-Cola has recalled “all variants” of multiple beverages produced in a Belgium facility “due to excessively high chlorate content,” according to a press release. 

Certain cans and bottles of Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Fuze Tea, Minute Maid, Nalu, Royal Bliss and Tropico were among the products recalled in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the beverage company said. Zero and light versions of the beverages are included. 

The recall affects cans and bottles with the production codes 328 GE to 338 GE. 

“The production code can be found on the bottom of the can or on the neck/label of the glass bottle,” Coca-Cola said.

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People who purchased the affected products are asked not to consume them but to return them where they bought them for a refund. 

“Chlorate originates from chlorine disinfectants widely and legally used in water treatment and in food processing with drinking water being by far the main contributor,” the European Commission says on its website. 

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Consuming high levels of chlorate from drinks and food “could result in potential serious health effects,” such as impaired thyroid function and inhibition of iodine uptake, the commission says. It is especially harmful to infants and children. 

“We apologize to consumers and our business partners,” Coca-Cola said in a recall announcement published on their website in French, adding that an independent expert analysis found that risk to consumers “is very low.”