Expired soft drinks: vendor arrested

by Manjula FERNANDO

The shop owner in Vavuniya who sold a bottle of expired soft drinks that killed a child in Polonnaruwa was arrested by the police yesterday. A large stock of expired soft drink bottles of the same brand was found in his shop by the police at the time of his arrest.

"The expiry date of these bottles, a local soft drink, was 2009," a Health Ministry spokesperson said.

The Ministry is waiting for the postmortem report by the JMO and the Government Analyst's report on the contents of the bottle to confirm whether the contents of this bottle which actually killed the child.

The child was given the soft drink by her soldier father who purchased the bottle from a shop. The mother of the child is also in hospital in a critical state.

"The soft drink bottles of this particular brand were withdrawn from market shelves soon after the death of the child was reported. The production at the manufacturing plant was also suspended till investigations are concluded," he said.

This popular brand of soft drinks is manufactured in Biyagama and their market is mainly the North and the East. The product is sold occasionally in other areas as well.

The Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena had instructed Health Ministry Secretary to organise surprise inspections at soft drink manufacturing plants with the help of the PHIs to check on the quality of the products at all levels; manufacturing, distribution and storage. The chemicals used and the source of water will be subjected to thorough scrutiny hereafter, the spokesperson added.