Expired bottles of soft drink confiscated by food safety officials in TN

Following the death of an eight-year-old girl here after she allegedly consumed a soft drink, officials today raided shops in the district and seized 200 bottles of the beverage besides 800 bottles, which had exceed the expiry date.

"We raided shops and eating joints in several places including Therku Seplanatham, the village of the deceased girl, Mantharakuppam, Neyveli and Vadalur and have seized 200 bottles that formed part of the same batch consumed by the victim," M P Raja, Food Safety Officer, Cuddalore District, told PTI.

Soft drinks stocks which had crossed expiry date and continued to remain on the shelves of outlets, have been seized.

"More than 800 bottles of expired beverages have also been seized and we have sealed three shops in Mantharakuppam for violating Food Safety laws," he added.

Stating that the "drive" to seize all bottles of the "suspicious batch" would continue in the next few days, the official requested the general public to avoid consuming the batch number AH 46 LR [23.01.2014] 3:33 of a popular soft drink major.

"We don't know the total number of bottles in this batch. We are taking appropriate steps," Raja said.