The carcinogen forms when the ammoniated caramel colouring used in colas is industrially produced.
Coke began using a less-contaminated caramel colouring earlier this year in California after the state required a cancer warning notice on soft drinks with excessive levels of 4-MI.
CSPI first released test results showing the levels of 4-MI in Coke and Pepsi in March.
Coca-Cola obtained from Brazil had 267 micrograms (mcg) of the carcinogen per 355ml. Coca-Cola from Kenya had 177mcg per 12oz.
Cokes marketed in Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, and the UK had between 144-160mcg per 12oz. Coke from China had 56mcg and in Japan had 72mcg. Coca-Cola purchased in Washington, DC, had 144mcg per 12floz, while Cokes bought in California contained only 4mcg.
To put those levels into context, the state of California requires a cancer-warning label if a food would lead to people consuming 30mcg or more of 4-MI per day. Thus, people drinking one 12oz soda per day would ingest that much if the soda contained 30mcg or more of 4-MI. The state estimates that that amount of 4-MI would cause cancer in one in 100,000 people over their lifetimes, CSPI said.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) restricts carcinogenic contaminants in food to lower levels—amounts that would not cause more than one cancer per million people. If the FDA applied its standard, a Coke would have to have under 3mcg of 4-MI.
Coca-Cola marketed in California is close to meeting that standard, but Cokes in most other countries, even allowing for lower consumption in most countries, greatly exceed that standard.
CSPI’s test results will be published shortly in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health.
Source: CSPI
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