BIS may moot lowering soft drink caffeine level

The sectional committee on carbonated beverages of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which will commence its eleventh, crucial and final...

The sectional committee on carbonated beverages of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which will commence its eleventh, crucial and final, meeting to set standards for soft drinks in Hyderabad on Friday is believed to have arrived at a consensus on at least two contentious issues of caffeine content and pH level (the indicator of acidity level).

According to sources, the committee has agreed on limiting the caffeine content in soft drinks to 145 mg per litre, as against the current permissible 200 mg per litre while the pH level has been recommended at 2.5. No pH levels have been specified right now.

Pepsi’s Mountain Dew and Coca-Cola’s Vanilla Coke have caffeine, which the companies say meet the current norms. New norms may require them to alter the caffeine levels in these drinks.

The committee has, however, been unable to arrive at a consensus on setting pesticide standards in soft drinks, sources said.

The final word on the controversial issue, which has been hanging fire for the past two years, will be announced on Friday, after the 30 members of the committee cast their votes in the conclusive meeting.

The issues are critical, as BIS is trying to set standards for pesticides, pH and caffeine levels in soft drinks.

The meeting will be attended by the committee members, which include representatives from the industry (including soft drink companies PepsiCo India and Coca-Cola India), consumer groups, environmental groups, other government agencies as well as sections of the civil society.

Story continues below this ad

The BIS committee has been working for the past two years to bring to an end the process that started with the release of the study on pesticides in soft drinks by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment in August 2003.

The committee has had 10 meetings ever since BIS issued ‘draft’ standards for pesticide residues in soft drinks in July 2004. The comprehensive draft standards, that proposed limits for caffeine, pH value (acidity) and toxic substances like copper, aluminium and alkalinity, had been put in the public domain for comments for about three months.

Friday’s final BIS meeting will take into consideration all the public comments received so far. According to sources, there’s a clear split in the comments with one section tilted towards the soft drink majors and industry bodies such as CII and Ficci and the other towards health and environment activists.

Once the draft is fully finalised and approved by the BIS, the proposed standards will be recommended to the Union health ministry.

Content-ious issues

Story continues below this ad

• Caffeine content in soft drinks to be reduced to 145 mg per litre

• PH level (the indicator of acidity level) has been recommended at 2.5