Just a day after the exposure of drugs in toxic capsules, mainland media reported yesterday that contaminated bottles of Coca-Cola, made by one of the drinks giant's mainland factories, had been sold earlier this year.
A staff member at Coca-Cola (Shanxi) Beverages, based in Taiyuan, told China National Radio that more than 120,000 boxes of Coca-Cola products containing excessive amounts of chlorine had been sold in February.
When workers fixed water lines in the factory on February 3, they mistakenly mixed up lines carrying water containing high levels of chlorine - used for disinfection - and water to be used for making beverages, the staff member said.
When people arrived at the factory the next day they found that their own drinking water tasted heavily of chlorine.
By February 8, the company had received so many complaints that it investigated both its own drinking water and the water used for making beverages.
Tests detected a high percentage of chlorine in the water used for making beverages, triggering the halting of production at the factory.