Coca-Cola Practices: Use Of Pesticides In Drinks

Title

A case study on Coca-Cola practices: Use of pesticides in drinks

Abstract

Globalization paved the path for foreign companies in India and everywhere else in the world. It increased the options availability for the consumers. Few such were availability of carbonated drinks and leading players were Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in India. They offered the cold drinks to the people and that too in affordable cost. It became a lifestyle for people especially in urban society. But to survive the pace of economic and modernization they also adopted bad steps. After setting up the production plants in Uttar Pradesh, they started searching for cheap source of water. According to some surveys conducted by few NGOs they found the use of pesticides in the

The whole crisis started there. In the month of May, 2003 few NGOs found something bad in the cold drinks available in the market. Its consumption was very high among the youths and especially among teenagers which was spoiling their health.

It all began when few villagers in northern parts of the state of Uttar Pradesh found peoples taking away water from drainages in huge amount. It was reported to the local NGOs and soon became headlines. The NGOs became eager to know about their usage. They took the help of The Center for Science and Environment, a New Delhi based research and advocacy group. This group conducted the tests on few samples from market and found the presence of pesticides. The tests was further conducted on 12 other cold drinks brands and presence of pesticides was found in each one of them.

The case was filed against the company in the Supreme Court of India and company was found guilty. They were not using the international standards of usage of pesticides while producing cold drinks. But the tests were in par with UK

It is just to highlight the Corporate Social Responsibility of the companies towards the society. Each of the companies are just having one goal of making profits at any cost. It should be achieved and at the same time society welfare should also be considered. Coca-Cola has reduced the water usage ratio at the Kaladera plant from 4.0 to 2.0. This win-win solution has helped reduce Coca-Cola’s operating costs and also reduced the need for groundwater extraction. Switching to plastic 28 bottles has reduced Coca-Cola’s transportations costs while also reducing water used for washing bottles. The TERI assessment did not find pesticides above health standards in the process water used in Coca-Cola plants. Ensuring elimination of pesticides in its products is good for Coca-Cola’s reputation and brand image and also good for public health. This is the so called “business case for CSR” or “corporate shared value. When private interests and public welfare are in conflict (as in CPR problems), government intervention is often necessary. Companies behaving in a responsible manner should not manipulate the political process to obstruct government