Diet Pesi, Coke All Set To Hit Indian Markets

Diet Pepsi and Coke might soon hit the Indian markets, with the sub-committee under the Central Committee for Food Standards (CCFS) approving the use of mixture of artificial sweeteners by soft drink manufacturers.

The CCFS sub-committee, which is under the health ministry, at a meeting held last Monday decided to allow the use of a mixture of Aspertame and Aceflume-K for the manufacture of soft drinks. The government had earlier banned the use of a mixture of artificial sweeteners by processed food manufacturers under the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act.

The sub-committee's decision is seen as the first step towards allowing the domestic manufacture of diet Coke and Pepsi. The decision has to be ratified by the CCFS and the health ministry before a any formal announcement is made in this regard, say government sources.

The meeting was not attended by any technical representatives from the food processing ministry. Though the CCFS comes under the health ministry, the food processing ministry is usually called upon to take part in the meetings on food additives.

Though artificial sweeteners like Sacharine, Aspertame and Aceflume-K are allowed to be individually used in the manufacture of processed food products, the government had banned the use of their mixture on safety grounds. According to government sources, the CCFS sub-committee might decide to allow the use of a Sacharine mixture in future, though for now it has decided only upon a mixture of Aspertame and Aceflume-K.

The decision to allow the use of a mixture of artificial sweeteners only by soft drink manufacturers has sparked off a debate in government circles with some quarters accusing the committee of discriminating between soft drink industry and other food processing industries.

"A mixture of artificial sweeteners can be used by most food processing industries including the manufacturers of ice-cream, jam, squash, juice and jelly among others. So why only allow the soft drink manufacturers to use a mixture of the artificial sweeteners and not the others', says a senior government source.

In fact, some quarter within the industry has alleged the government of being pro-multinational in its policy initiatives though its boasts of being a Swadeshi government. "The decision to allow mixture of artificial sweeteners only by the soft drink manufacturers will clearly benefit the multinational companies in India. The discrimination between industries is unfair and will mainly hit the domestic food processing companies", points out an industry source.