Giving a fillip to consumer rights, the Supreme Court today ruled that Pepsi and Coca Cola would have to display on their bottles a warning that the soft drink may contain pesticide residues.A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti, directed that the language and content of the warning would be finalised by the Rajasthan High Court, which had first ordered such a disclosure.The two soft-drink manufacturers will therefore have to approach the High Court within two weeks with their drafts of the pesticide warning.In their special leave petitions, both the companies pleaded that they should not be required to display on the bottle a break-up of all the possible pesticides and their respective quantities.The bench assured Coke and Pepsi that if they felt that the High Court was being ‘‘unreasonable’’ on the extent of disclosure, it was open to them to approach the Supreme Court once again.In fact, it was clarified that if a dispute arises on the extent of disclosure, that will be treated as a fresh cause of action.Both the companies contended that it was impossible to ascertain the exact content of pesticides in their drink but agreed to print on the bottle that though the soft drink may contain pesticides, it conformed to packaged water standards.Coke’s counsel Harish Salve said the presence of pesticide residues was because of its extensive usage in agriculture. This led to the entry of pesticide into water and sugar, which are raw materials for soft drinks.‘‘But agriculture in our country is a holy cow and no Government would make a law on the subject even if it is in public knowledge that coffee and tea and even fruit juice contained more pesticide than the soft drinks,’’ Salve said.Pepsi’s counsel Arun Jaitley argued that if the same direction to disclose pesticide content had been issued by the Government to the soft drink industry, it would have been quashed by the courts on the ground of discrimination. Even otherwise, any direction to disclose the composition of the drink would violate the manufacturer’s larger right to maintain trade secrets.Both Coke and Pepsi reacted cautiously to the order. ‘‘Our product manufactured in India is world-class and safe and complies with all the statutory requirements. We follow one quality system accross the world. Treated water used to make our beverages accross all our plants in the country already meets the highest standars including EU,’’ said a Coke spokesperson.Pepsi echoed this: ‘‘Our products confirm to the highest international standards which ensure consumer safety. On receipt of the court order, we will decide on the further course of action.’’ It all started in August, when a Centre for Science and Environment study showed a sample of colas as having pesticide residue 11-30 times EU standards.The same month the government set up a 15-member JPC under the chairmanship of Sharad Pawar to look into the controversy. The JPC eventually upheld the CSE findings and asked government to formulate stringent quality norms for carbonated drinks.But almost a year later, the Ministry of Health mandated that the quality of water used for manufacturing Coke and Pepsi should meet EU standards. Then came a draft notification by the BIS which asked that sugar and preservatives also meet global standards and that the end-product meet pesticide norms that match EU levels for water. The draft standards laid down pH and caffeine levels with labelling requirements.
