Coca-Cola Switzerland exchanges cans

Facing pressure from the Swiss health authorities, Coca-Cola Switzerland said it would exchange soft drinks that were imported from France and sold in Swiss stores.

Facing pressure from the Swiss health authorities, Coca-Cola Switzerland said it would exchange soft drinks that were imported from France and sold in Swiss stores.

The announcement was made late on Thursday, after the Federal Health Office called on Coca-Cola to withdraw suspect drinks after it was discovered that potentially contaminated cans and bottles had found their way into Swiss stores from France, where 80 people had fallen ill after consuming soft drinks on Wednesday.

Most of the products sold in Switzerland are from Austria or Switzerland itself. But Coca-Cola said in a statement that some “grey imports” had entered from France along the Swiss-French border.

The imports under scrutiny were from Dunkirk, where Coca-Cola suspended production when people felt ill after drinking products originating from that operation.

The Dunkirk cans are marked with “DP”, “DW”, “DX” or “DV”.

There have been no reports in Switzerland of any illness suspected to be linked to Coca-Cola’s products.

Coca-Cola has been conducting a massive product recall amid concerns about products bottled in Dunkirk and in Antwerp.

It began to pull millions of cans and bottles from European markets after over 100 Belgian children fell ill after drinking its products.


Reuters news agency contributed to this report.