Days after the US mandated that the drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens will have to bear a cancer warning, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked its scientific panel to study the content of the beverages in India to see if the same warning is required here as well.
Recently, California added to its list of cancer causing chemicals a commonly used flavoured soda beverages, mandate containing a certain level of carcinogens bear a cancer warning label.
While the ingredients’ modifications were made by the beverage companies in the US caramel colouring using ammonia-sulfite in their sodas after the state of California added ammonia sulfite or 4-MI to its list of known carcinogens. The FSSAI has asked their experts to study the same. “This is a recent warning being put out. The matter has already been referred to the scientific panel of the FSSAI. If panels finds it necessary, we will take action in this regard,” said K. Chandramouli, chairperson, FSSAI. The step in the US was taken after a study revealed that the chemical is linked to cancer in mice and rats.
However, there is nothing to panic as the US FDA claims that a person will have to drink more than 1,000 cans of the soft drink a day to take in the same dose of the chemical that was given to the animals in the lab test.
Even the beverage powerhouses PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have already declared that they will modify the carmel colouring in their sodas to avoid a cancer warning label that the new California law requires.
Both the companies account for about 90 per cent of all soda creation in the country.
The new recipe, the companies-claim has less 4 methylimidazole (4-MEI)-the chemical that California has added to its list of carcinogens.
The change has already been introduced in California and will soon be rolled out across the US.