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Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are changing their recipes after a consumer group, Center for Science in Public Interest has tested and claimed that a compound called 4-MI can cause cancer
NEW YORK - Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, which together account for nearly 90 per cent of US aerated drink market, are changing the recipes for their drinks to avoid having to label their products with a cancer warning in keeping with California regulations.

The soft drink majors have incorporated the changes for drinks sold in California and it would soon be expanded across the US, they said.

The changes come after a consumer group, Center for Science in the Public Interest, claimed that an additive for caramel colouring causes cancer. The additive being changed is a compound called 4-methylimidazole (4-MI or 4-MEI).

California has added the chemical to its list of carcinogens after high levels of it were found to lead to tumors in animals. However, studies haven't shown it to have similar effects on humans.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has claimed more than 1,000 cans of Coke or Pepsi a day would have to be consumed to take in the same dose of the chemical that was given to animals in the lab test.

Diana Garza-Giarlante, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola in the US, told AP: "While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning."

In a statement, Coca-Cola has said the manufacturing process across Europe would not change.

It said apart from California, "not a single regulatory agency around the world considers the exposure of the public to 4-MEI as present in caramels as an issue".

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