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Subscribe to RSSBEIJING -- Chinese police believe a child who died after drinking a Coca Cola-made yogurt drink was probably the victim of deliberate poisoning, state media reported Tuesday.
A testing agency found no toxins in samples from the same batch of the drink.
"The police's technical tests and investigations have preliminarily confirmed that this incident is a criminal case in Changchun, which reaffirms that it is not related in any way to our product quality," Joanna Price, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola said in an emailed statement.
An 11-year-old boy died in Changchun city in Jilin province after he drank the strawberry-flavored Pulpy Milky yogurt drink on Nov. 28, and his mother was severely ill after consuming the same drink.
Another mother and her daughter became ill after drinking another bottle of the same drink in Jilin a few days earlier, but recovered, Coca-Cola spokeswoman Price said earlier.
Police have reached the "preliminary conclusion" that the drink was tampered with, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the provincial public security office.
Investigators in both cases found highly toxic pesticides present in the remains of the drinks, according to the report.
But tests carried out by the China National Centre for Food Quality Supervision and Testing "showed no existence of Methomyl or thiodicarb, two toxic pesticides, on the samples of the same batch of the strawberry-flavored milk drinks taken by the victim," the Xinhua news agency reported late Monday.
'Isolated act'
Checks of the production process also found they were safe, the report also said, citing a statement from Coca-Cola. Checks of other Coca-Cola products on sale in Changchun also did not find toxins, the Xinhua report said.
"All these tests and reviews indicate our products are safe and within standards," Price said in her email. "This incident is an isolated act that occurred in Changchun, and we are one hundred percent confident that our products are safe and in good quality."
The company and officials earlier agreed the yogurt drink should be removed from shelves in Jilin province while the investigation was under way.
Food scandals are common in China, where crackdowns have failed to stamp out poisonings and toxin outbreaks that have shaken consumer confidence.
Foreign companies are watched closely as they are generally perceived to hold stricter standards. When Western companies are accused of transgressions, it becomes big news in China.
The Xinhua report said cases in 2009 and 2010 of a man and a teenager being poisoned by mercury in Sprite, a Coke-produced soft drink, were traced to intentional poisonings, not quality problems.
Coca-Cola controls about 63 percent of China's soft drinks market, Bloomberg reported.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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China is finding its way to modern problems with its new prosperity.
Modern problems like husband trying to kill wife (accidentally, kid) through poisoning? Stone old concepts.
It was Snoop Dogg and those pesky Pepsi guys. And they had that cute kid standing as the "Lookout"!
Ahhhh so! ME Chinese, me play joke, me put poison in your Coke!
Me Hecky Hecky Stan Stan, think like small boy, but really just childish old man.
There's a time and place for your sort of humor. (Elementary school playgrounds, mainly.) But when an 11-year old kid dies, you can usually assume that this isn't one of those times.
Hey Dr. Cat, as a doctor you should realize that some people grieve in different ways than others. One common response is to turn to humor to get through a tough situation.
(You know, because we're all so torn up by the death of an anonymous child a world away.)
I thought it was pretty hilarious, Hecky Hecky Stan Stan. You keep on shining, crazy diamond.
@Please Understand
Yes, I'm sure you understood when certain people around the world were making jokes about the US when the Twin Towers were destroyed. That was just their way of getting through the tragedy, right?
In any event, it isn't that we're literally torn up about an "anonymous child" that died. It's just common decency (not to mention common sense) to know when it's not right to make light of such things, especially in the rather racist way it was. I really could care less if you disagree and keep on laughing; it's just that I'm confused by the fact that this even has to be explained to supposed "adults." It almost makes me feel like a nagging old mother, a role that I would much rather not waste my time playing.
In response to Twin Towers point, yes, I understood the jokes about the tragedy of 9/11 because I have a sense of humor. Being able to laugh after a tragedy is normal, healthy, and speaks to the resilience of the human spirit.
That being said, malicious, hateful comments are easily recognizable by those with a keen sense of humor and are therefore not treated as "jokes."
I agree that there is a difference between tasteful and tasteless humor, but I also believe tasteless jokes can be hilarious. I would hate to lose my sense of humor and enjoyment of this zany world around me and become a nagging old mother. Sorry Doc.
Get off it. I have a huge sense of humor as well. But I don't make jokes or laugh at tragedies. Maybe my sense of humor is just not anywhere near as "keen" as yours is.
On a side note, even David Letterman, a person some hate, knows when not to joke as was clearly displayed on many occasions, including after the Twin Towers, on his show. Some people just have more sense than others, I guess.
Apparently not. Unless you find our back-and-forth as amusing as I do. This is pretty funny to me.
Where on the timeline does laughter/joking become appropriate? We're still in the "after the Twin Towers" period that you described...
I'd hope that David Letterman has told at least a couple jokes in the last ten years or I really don't understand why people still watch his show.
Please Understand wrote:
Ah, you're just trolling, then. My mistake for not recognizing it sooner.
Not exactly. I honestly believe everything I've written here. Dr. Cat of the humor police just kind of pissed me off enough to poke the hornet's nest.
You attacked Hecky Hecky Stan Stan out of nowhere. Poor guy made a joke and you chastised him mercilessly.
Grow some thicker skin and get a kick out of life, Doc.
Wait... I pissed you off? Because I "mercilessly" attacked your boyfriend, Hecky? What happened to that keen sense of humor of yours? Everything I wrote should have had you laughing your butt off. But to think I actually pissed you off in some way? Talk about someone who should grow some thicker skin. Now you're actually giving me something to laugh about. (Thanks for that, it was getting a bit too serious.)
You're welcome ;)
My God! I was back from a long Vegas trip and still intoxicated. Did not think two people would continually comment on this. The one time I try to make a joke on the news vine this happens. After so many political comments and crap from the left, center and right I thought a little levity was needed.
DR Cat - I was just poking fun.
Please U. Love your style and if I was gay I would love to be your boyfriend.
Thanks HHSS. Wasn't sure if you'd ever read these.
If I wasn't a heterosexual male engaged to be married to the girl of my dreams this May, I'd be all over that sweet ass in a heartbeat.
Sick f#$ks everywhere.
derpy derpington banned for death wishing and making racist remarks.
No, thanks.
it's china. what do you expect?
Amazing to me how we can take a story (that is largely a "we didn't do it" ad for Coca Cola) and express our hatred, political opinions and generally totally unrelated topics through it.
Oh, and don't we all hope that the little animals and pets in China aren't exposed to this awful poison?
The Chinese have been doing this for millennia, and they do it routinely in the food and pharmaceutical products they export, as well as to the food and pharmaceutical products reserved for use specifically in what now is Red China . . .
They did this to themselves a few years ago by replacing dairy milk in infant formula with melamine, which caused babies to starve to death, and they did something similar with pet food by using melamine as a cheap replacement for wheat gluten, which led to thousands of pet deaths in the US . . .
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-09-11-tainted-formula_N.htm
http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/safetyhealth/recallswithdrawals/ucm129575.htm
And they did this with toothpaste exported to the US, Mexico, Central America, and South America, as well as elsewhere in the world, where the Red Chinese replaced glycerin sweetener with automobile antifreeze (diethylene glycol), which due to "mislabeling" also was used in cough syrup in Panama that killed at least 100 people and sickened many more . . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/us/02toothpaste.html
And because nearly none of the imports to our great nation from Red China actually are inspected and tested, this is a huge ongoing problem, which is made all the worse by the current USDA and FDA rules that allow US companies to do a minimal amount of "processing" that by various laws and regulations then make it possible for US food and pharmaceutical manufacturers to use the code phrase "distributed by" rather than stating clearly that the products contain ingredients from Red China, where vitamin and mineral supplements and over-the-counter "nutritional remedies" are some of the most egregious instances of the nearly complete lack of regulation, control, and oversight by the FDA, which is due primarily to Congress explicitly exempting these substances from quality control regulation until there is a verified adverse event . . .
As an example of "distributed by" sneaky weaseling, there might be a brand of apple juice named "Spanky Fabulous All American Natural Apple Juice" which has "distributed by" as the only country of origin clue on the label, which of course lists a company name and address in the US, but this does not indicate (a) that it actually is apple juice made from apples grown and processed in the US and (b) that it contains absolutely nothing from Red China, since the "apples" certainly can be from Red China, and there is no telling what else is mixed with the Red Chinese "apple juice" toward the goal of pinching a few pennies regardless of the consequences for human health and well-being . . .
One of the primary requirements for being included in the Baldenario Approved for Novices™ menu is not having "distributed by" anywhere on the label, since these code phrases for all practical purposes translate in English to "we don't want you to know what this stuff actually is and what it really contains" . . .
In other words, at the dawn of the early-21st century "distributed by" for the most part is equivalent to "made in Red China and containing whatever the Red Chinese decided to use", really . . .
Really! :-o
Given China likes to load up food products with poison anyway, it likely was deliberate though not targeted.
"Pulpy Milky?" The name alone suggests that you'd get sick drinking it. With or without poison added. I don't even like pulp in orange juice. In milk? Gross.
Just another example of Chinese incompetency.
Notice the utter silence on the locally produced Chinese YOGURT!!!! Geeee, I wonder if it was the yogurt that was poisoned...
They tested the batch and the company did nothing wrong. It was intentionally against the family. Why drag the name of Coca-cola through the mud, when this is clearly an isolated incident?
This just goes to show buy china at yer own risk.
They not blaming this on CIA ? Weired.