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Bihar to move court over `polluted' soft drinks

34 samples collected at random, sent for testing

Patna: The Bihar government is mooting possibilities of moving court against certain soft-drink companies after tests revealed harmful substances in aerated drinks.

The Food Control Administration Department randomly collected samples from the open market and from the bottling plants. Tests revealed that some of them contained harmful foreign particles while some others were polluted because of rusted cap of the bottle.

Flouting all rules and regulations, one of the branded companies was found engaged in gross irregularity by ignoring printing the date of manufacturing and expiry on the soft drink bottles.

Finding the multinationals on the wrong foot the Food Control and Administration of Bihar is now planning to file a case against the companies concerned and their bottling plants at the earliest.

Drug Controller and Joint Food Controller of Bihar Y.K. Jaiswal told UNI here that the companies would be prosecuted and cases would be filed in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate of both Patna and Hajipur under Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

Mr Jaiswal refused to disclose the name of the companies concerned. However, he disclosed that 34 samples of different brands were collected randomly and sent for testing and the report revealed that one bottle had harmful foreign particles while the content of the other two were polluted due to rusting of the cap. The fourth bottle did not mention the manufacturing and expiry dates.

Mr Jaiswal attributed improper filtering of water to presence of the foreign elements and said these were harmful for human beings. Regarding rusted cap, he said on consumption the rust would damage the vital organs such as liver and stomach. The collected samples were sent to the Central Food Laboratory for further tests due to lack of advanced facilities in the State, he added. UNI

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Bihar to move court over `polluted' soft drinks

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