Themes: Ethics in Business
Period : 1999-2001
Organization : Coke, Belgian Health Ministry
Pub Date : 2002
Countries : Belgium
Industry : Food & Beverages
- Michael Douglas Ivester, Coke's Chairman and CEO.
- Dr. Brita Butler-Wall, Executive Director, Citizens' Campaign for Commercial-Free Schools, US.
On June 13, 1999, Coca-Cola1 (Coke) recalled over 15 million cans and bottles after the Belgian Health Ministry announced a ban on Coke's drinks, which were suspected of making more than 100 school children ill in the preceding six days. This recall was in addition to the 2.5 million bottles that had already been recalled in the previous week. |
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We have had five or six cases of poisoning of young people who had stomach pain after drinking (the suspect beverages)." In the same week, the governments of France, Spain and Luxembourg also banned Coke's products while Coke's Dutch arm recalled all products that had come from its Belgium plant. The entire episode left more than 200 Belgians and French, mostly school children, ill after drinking the Coke produced at Antwerp and Dunkirk.
The company had to assure its British customers that the products made in its UK factories were safe. By June 15, 1999, Coke had recalled about 30 million cans and bottles, the largest ever product recall in its 113-year history. For the first time, the entire inventory of Coke's products from one country were banned from sale.
As part of a damage control exercise, Coke sent a team of scientists to Europe. During its visit to Europe after a week of these incidents, Coke's chairman and CEO Michael Douglas Ivester said, "We deeply regret any problems encountered by our European consumers in the past few days." Coke Belgium even announced that it would reimburse the medical costs for people who had become ill after consuming its products.
1] Coca-Cola, based in Atlanta, US, is the world's largest soft drinks company.
2] These soft drinks were bottled by Coke's bottlers which were not owned directly by the parent company.