Pepsi Recalls Some Soft Drinks After Reports of Alleged Tampering

Pepsi-Cola Co. has announced the recall of a limited batch of soft drinks after being notified that the federal Food and Drug Administration was investigating a report of a “metal object” allegedly found in a can produced in Pepsi’s Torrance bottling plant.

The FDA notified the company Thursday about the investigation, but details of the alleged tampering could not be disclosed as of Monday, Pepsi spokesman Jeff Brown said.

Brown said Pepsi was advising Southern California consumers to return six-packs of Pepsi and Strawberry Slice with the following codes printed on the bottoms of the cans: 1800 FW 071154 to 2359 FW 071154 and 0000 FW 071254 to 0400 FW 071254. The cans can be taken back to the store for replacement or refund.

The Torrance plant is one of four Pepsi facilities in Southern California beset with labor strife. Teamsters Union locals representing 560 employees voted to go on strike June 21 in a dispute over pension benefits. Brown said negotiations have broken off but about 20% of the striking workers have already returned to work.

Brown added that there was no evidence of a connection between the labor dispute and the tampering case.