百事可乐被指在加州以外地区仍使用致癌色素

美国环境健康中心周三发布的一份报告称，百事可乐在加州以外地区的产品中仍在使用含鼠类致癌物质的焦糖色素。百事可乐回应称，美国其他地区的配方修订工作将于214年2月完成。去年3月，可口可乐和百事可乐均被查出在产品中使用含有会让鼠类致癌物质的焦糖色素，事后双方均表示会更换色素配方，不再使用这种名为有4-甲基咪唑的化学物质。今年3月，该中心对可口可乐和百事可乐在加州和其他十个州的产品进行检测，发现双方在加州的产品中均不含该物质；在其他州购买的10份可口可乐饮料中，有9份不含4-MEI，或含量微乎其微；而10份百事可乐中均含有该物质。不过，美国食品和药品管理局去年曾表示，一个人每天要喝1000罐以上含有4-甲基咪唑的苏打饮料才会达到研究中所说的致癌级别。

Pepsi-Cola is still using caramel coloring containing a chemical linked to cancer in rodents, a report released on Wednesday showed, more than a year after the beverage maker promised to phase it out.

The Center for Environmental Health said that PepsiCo Inc. lagged its rival Coca-Cola in removing the chemical, called 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI.

Coke and Pepsi said in March 2012 that they would make changes to the production of the caramel coloring used in their namesake colas to avoid the need to label the packages with a cancer warning following a California ballot initiative aimed at limiting people's exposure to toxic chemicals.

This spring, CEH tested samples of Coke and Pepsi purchased from California and 10 other states. Its findings showed no 4-MI in any soda from California. In the samples from the other states, CEH said nine of 10 Coke drinks had little or none of the chemical, while all the Pepsi samples did.

"Pepsi's delay is inexplicable," Michael Green, CEH's executive director, said in a statement. "We urge the company to take swift action to provide all Americans with the same safer product they're selling in California."

In response, PepsiCo said the modification for the rest of the United States would be completed by February 2014. It said it is also undertaking the effort globally, even though regulators in the United States, Europe and Canada consider the chemical safe.

Very high levels of 4-MI have been linked to cancer in animals. It was added last year to a list of chemicals covered by California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65.

Coke said it modified its sodas for California first so they would not have to carry a warning. But since it makes no sense to have separate inventories of products, it started using a modified caramel for U.S. markets beyond California.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said last year that a person would have to drink "well over a thousand cans of soda a day to reach the doses administered in the studies that have shown links to cancer in rodents."