Coca-Cola Suffers From Worms In China

Following two cases of alleged mercury poisoning cases in Beijing, a Chinese consumer surnamed Gao has sued the Beijing Coca-Cola Company to court after allegedly finding a worm in a bottle of Sprite produced by the company.

It is learned from local Chinese media reports that Gao apparently purchased a case of Sprite 600 milliliter bottles in June 2007. In 2008 he filed a lawsuit at Beijing Daxing District Court after seeing a worm about three centimeters long in one of the bottles which had not been opened. Gao asked in the petition that Coca-Cola pay him CNY2.05 in goods costs and CNY2.05 in fines, in addition to CNY10,000 compensation for mental anguish. He also asked Coca-Cola to make a written apology to him and probe into the source of the problem.

Coca-Cola admitted that the coding number on the bottle in question was part of their products' coding number and the packaging and trademark of the drink was also identical to their products.

Based on judicatory appraisal, the court reportedly believed that the Sprite in question was produced by Coca-Cola. It said that, as one of the large beverage manufacturers in Beijing, Coca-Cola should strengthen on its food safety supervision and make sure that all its products do no harm to consumers' health, life, and safety; and sentenced the company to pay Gao CNY2.05 to cover the cost of the goods.

Dissatisfied with the court's sentence, Gao has filed another lawsuit and the final decision has not bee published yet.

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