Pepsi Plans No Recall of Drinks as Reports of Syringes Spread

A Pepsi-Cola Co. official said Tuesday that the firm has no plans to recall its soft drinks, as federal authorities investigated a growing number of widely scattered complaints that consumers have found syringes in Pepsi beverages.

The Food and Drug Administration was looking into at least a dozen complaints of syringes or other foreign objects in Pepsi cans and bottles in nine states. The FDA refused to identify the states, but complaints are known to have been filed in Washington state, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois and Wyoming.

FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler said that the complaints appeared unrelated and that once “an initial complaint of tampering receives widespread publicity, there are always subsequent complaints, many of which turn out to be false.”

The first reports came last week and involved the discovery of hypodermic needles in two cans of Diet Pepsi in Washington state. Kessler said Tuesday that the FDA laboratory found that the needles were not contaminated.

Consumers who discover odd objects in Pepsi have been asked to contact the local FDA office or to call the Pepsi Consumer Hotline at 1-800-433-2652.

The maker of soft drinks, bottled at more than 400 locations, said there was no evidence that the tampering occurred during manufacturing.

“We have yet to confirm that any of these reports concern an unopened container,” spokesman Andrew Giangola said. “There have been no injuries reported, and there is no health risk to consumers. We see no reason for a product recall and the FDA concurs.”

But some signs of growing uneasiness appeared. A grocery in Iowa pulled all Pepsi products from its shelves Tuesday after a customer reported finding a syringe in a can from a 12-pack of regular Pepsi purchased Sunday.

Anita Muse, 20, of Gretna, La., became the third person near New Orleans to report finding a needle in a can of Pepsi. She said it was in a can from a six-pack purchased Monday night.

Police said an unidentified Rock Springs, Wyo., woman reported Monday that she found a syringe with a needle attached in one of the 12 cans of Pepsi she purchased last week at a Rock Springs store.