Full list of drinks Coca-Cola has recalled after finding worrying levels of chemical

Coca-Cola has recalled a ‘considerable quantity’ of fizzy drinks over safety concerns.

Coke, Sprite, Fanta and other drinks have been affected.

Excessive levels of the chemical chlorate were found in several of the soft drink giant’s brands due for sale in the UK, Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg.

At exceptionally high levels, consumption of chlorate – a by-product of chlorine used to disinfect water – can cause thyroid problems or kidney failure and may be fatal.

However, Coca-Cola insists that levels, although higher than usual, are low enough that ‘any associated risk for consumers is very low’.

NHS and private nutritionist Caron Grazette told the BBC: ‘We need to question whether or not we want to digest chemicals in soft drinks which are used in the production of fireworks and disinfectants, however small the quantity.’

Affected batches of five Coca-Cola products had been shipped to the UK late last year before routine testing found higher levels of chlorate at a production facility in Belgium.

‘We do not have a precise figure, but it is clear that it is a considerable quantity’, a Coca-Cola spokesperson said.

‘The majority of the affected and unsold products have already been removed from store shelves and we continue to take measures to remove all remaining products from the market.’

Customers are asked not to drink them and instead return them to the point of sale for a refund.

‘We are in contact with the competent authorities in each of the affected markets’, Coca-Cola said.

The European Food Safety Authority says high levels of chlorate ‘could result in potentially serious health effects, especially among infants and children’.

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