PepsiCo Inc, the world's second-biggest soft-drink maker, will follow standards India plans to set, norms that may end the recurring debate over pesticide residues in its beverages and those of bigger rival Coca-Cola Co.
"We will abide by and fully comply with whatever standards the government sets," Indra Nooyi, the India-born chief executive officer of Purchase, New York-based PepsiCo, said in a speech at a seminar in New Delhi yesterday. "We and the Coca-Cola Co are working on a breakthrough technology that will detect very low levels of pesticide residues in soft drinks."
The controversy resurfaced this summer after an Indian pressure group said its tests showed 57 samples of 11 brands of sodas made by the two companies had pesticides residues. The government maintained the findings didn't conclusively prove drinks made by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo contain pollutants.
The companies also succeeded in overturning a sales ban on their sodas in the southern state of Kerala, a Communist-ruled province that was among the local administrations imposing varying curbs after the pressure group made public its findings.
While the authorities in other states imposed partial bans, the administration of Kerala, a tropical vacation destination along the Arabian Sea, was the only government to fully ban brands from both companies.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola and PepsiCo disputed the testing methods and results, and said their drinks meet the EU standard of less than 1 part per billion for any individual pesticide. Coca-Cola depends on India for about 1.3 percent of its volume.
"I personally stand by each and every product we sell," Nooyi said yesterday. "Recently, three highly reputed laboratories declared our products are safe. Residues are not detectable."
PepsiCo has reduced water use in India by 50 percent and is focusing on low-fat products aimed at curbing obesity trends, Nooyi said.
The political debate surrounding the sporadic bans stoked concerns Indian laws may fail to protect overseas businesses, consequently hurting investment flows.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
UNITED: The other candidates congratulated Cheng on her win, saying they hoped the new chair could bring the party to victory in the elections next year and in 2028 Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday won the party’s chair election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes. It was the first time Cheng, 55, ran for the top KMT post, and she is the second woman to hold the post of chair, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017. Cheng is to succeed incumbent Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1 for a four-year term. Cheng said she has spoken with the other five candidates and pledged to maintain party unity, adding that the party would aim to win the elections next year and
RSS