RAHIM YAR KHAN: A district administration team on Sunday raided the local plant of Coca Cola Bottlers Private Limited (CCBPL) and sealed its unit producing one litre Sprite glass bottle.

According to a press release issued here on Sunday by deputy director (information), an anti- adulteration team comprising Assistant Commissioner Dr Javed Ahmed, AC Batool Asadi and District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Hasan Khan visited the plant on Shahbazpur Road on the orders of District Coordination Officer retired Capt Muhammad Zafar Iqbal.

It said during the inspection the team found different insects and reptiles, including lizards, in the production area of the plant.

The company had not made proper arrangements to block the insects, it added.

The team officials collected the soft drink samples and sent them to laboratory, sealed the plant and instructed its administration to withdraw the whole stock of Sprite one liter glass bottle from the market and destroy it.

Later, police registered separate FIRs against distributer Nadeem Asghar, production manager, quality response manager and storekeeper of CCBPL and started investigation.

The district administration took the action in the backdrop of a complaint by a grocery store owner, Qari Amjad, of Islamia Colony, who said a lizard was found in a litre glass bottle of Sprite (serial No 40825), delivered to him from CCBPL local (now sealed) plant on Saturday last.

Showing the soft drink bottle containing the reptile to some journalists, Mr Amjad said the stock was supplied to him by CCBPL distributors Jameel Brothers.

When the issue was brought into the knowledge of AC Dr Javed Ahmed, in charge of monitoring team against adulteration, he called the CCBPL plant officials, agency distributer and the shopkeeper in his office and investigated the matter.

When contacted, Manager Clint Services Lahore for CCBL Ali Mumtaz Warriach had said in his e-mail on Saturday that Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited (CCBPL) came to know through media sources that a shopkeeper in Rahim Yar Khan had reportedly found some “foreign matter” in a 1 litre Sprite bottle.

“We are ready to offer our technical expertise and full cooperation in this matter,” the e-mail reads.

It said the company should be allowed to carry out tests to determine whether the bottle (with “foreign matter”) was genuine or a counterfeit product and if the bottle seal was original or tampered with “as we believe the claim is unfounded”.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2015

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