Coca-Cola Admits Chlorine Contamination in China Facility

BEIJINGCoca-Cola has temporarily halted production at a bottling plant in Chinas Shanxi Province after the company admitted nine batches of its products were contaminated by chlorine in February during a routine maintenance procedure.

According to state-run Xinhua news agency, Coca-Cola Shanxi Beverages Co. Ltd. reported water in production facilities with small amounts of chlorine flowed into water used for producing drinks during a pipe refitting project on Feb. 3 due to errors in operation.

The Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision analyzed the affected beverages an found the chlorine levels to be lower than that of purified drinking water. According to the bureau, the nine contaminated batches were used to produce 121,058 cases of beverages between Feb. 4 and 8. As of last week, 76,391 cases have been sold; the remainder are still in the plant.

The bureau ordered the Coca-Cola to halt production for rectification on April 28 after it found other problems with the company's production lines.