The Associated Press is reporting that an environmental group has revealed that the caramel colouring used in Pepsi still contains a worrisome level of a carcinogen.
The revelation comes even after the drink maker said it would change its formula.The chemical is 4-methylimidazole, or 4-Mel, which can form during the cooking process and, as a result, may be found in trace amounts in many foods.
Efforts by RJR News to get a comment from the representatives of Pepsi in Jamaica were unsuccessful.But according to the Associated Press, in March, PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola both said they would adjust their formulas after California passed a law mandating drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens come with a cancer warning label.The changes were made for drinks sold in California when the law passed.
Watchdog group the Centre for Environmental Health found via testing that while Coke products no longer test positive for the chemical, Pepsi products sold outside of California still do. Pepsi said its caramel colouring suppliers are changing their manufacturing process to cut the amount of 4-Mel in its caramel.That process is complete in California and will be finished in February 2014 in the rest of the United States.
Pepsi said it will also be taken out globally, ostensibly including the Jamaican market, but did not indicate a time line. Meanwhile, the company said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies around the world consider Pepsi's caramel colouring safe. Coca-Cola insists that all of its products, whether they have the modified caramel or not, are safe.
Trace amounts of 4-Mel have not been linked to cancer in humans.
The FDA also said that a consumer would have to drink more than one thousand cans of soda a day to reach the doses administered that have shown links to cancer in rodents.
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