Group Scolds PepsiCo for not Removing Chemical Linked to Cancer

OAKLAND, Calif.PepsiCo, Inc. is still using a caramel coloring that contains a chemical linked to cancer, according to testing commissioned by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), a watchdog group.

Tests of 10 Pepsi products detected high levels of the chemical, 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI), despite the company's promise more than a year ago that it would change its caramel coloring, CEH announced today.

PepsiCo's caramel coloring suppliers have been working to curtail the amount of the chemical, the company told CEH. The soft drink company also disclosed it will complete the modifications in the United States by February 2014 and noted levels of 4-MEI in its products are below the threshold that would require a warning under California's Proposition 65 (Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986), according to the watchdog group in a press release.

CEH lauded Coca Cola for removing 4-MEI, with little or none of the substance being detected in nine of 10 products that were tested. In March 2012, PepsiCo's rival announced plans to reduce levels of 4-MEI. Earlier in the year, California regulators added the substance to the list of chemicals that are known to cause cancer under Proposition 65. Warnings under the law are not required if exposure to a chemical doesn't present a significant risk of cancer or is well below levels that are known to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm, according to California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) within the state Environmental Protection Agency.

We applaud Coke for taking this health protective action for consumers nationwide," Michael Green, executive director of CEH, said in a statement. "Pepsis delay is inexplicable. We urge the company to take swift action to provide all Americans with the same safer product theyre selling in California."

Studies published six years ago by the National Toxicology Program demonstrated that long-term exposure to 4-MEI led to increases in lung cancer in male and female mice, OEHHA explains on its website in a February 2012 fact sheet.

"Some caramel colorings used in some soft drinks and other beverages may contain significant amounts of 4-MEI," the agency states. "Cooking, roasting, or other food processing, such as the roasting of coffee beans, may also lead to formation of 4-MEI."

The American Beverage Association said last year the science does not establish that 4-MEI in food or drinks poses a threat to human health.

PepsiCo did not immediately respond today to a request for comment.

Theresa Eisenman, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), told Food Product Design the agency is "reviewing the available data on the carcinogenicity of 4-MEI and is assessing potential consumer exposure to the impurity from the use of caramel coloring."

"Based on this analysis, FDA will determine if any appreciable risk exists from exposure to this impurity and what, if any, regulatory action needs to be taken. In the meantime, based on the available information, FDA has no reason to believe that there is any immediate or short-term danger presented by 4-MEI at the levels expected in food from the use of caramel coloring," she said.