Coca-Cola Ban Spreads to Spain

The health scare over Coca-Cola Co.’s beverages bottled in Belgium and France spread Friday as Spain withdrew 390,000 bottles of drinks from sale, despite no recorded cases of health problems caused by Coca-Cola in Spain, officials said.

Spanish media reported that drinks imported from Belgium were withdrawn from six Spanish regions, just as Coca-Cola moved to give the Brussels government new information to try to get the Belgian ban on its products lifted.

About 200 people in Belgium and France have become ill in Europe’s latest health scare, complaining of vomiting, nausea and dizziness after consuming Coca-Cola drinks.

M. Douglas Ivester, chief executive and chairman of Coca-Cola, was meeting in Belgium with local management Friday on a damage-control mission for the world’s largest soft-drink business.

He was not scheduled to meet with Health Ministry officials, who had relaxed the sales ban on Coke’s niche brand drinks late Thursday but maintained the ban on its most popular products: Coke, Fanta and Sprite.

As Ivester worked to restore European confidence in its brands, there was evidence of loyal support.

Shopkeepers in Belgium said they had to turn away consumers demanding Coke despite the publicity over the ban that followed reports of dozens of illnesses among people who drank Coca-Cola products.

France on Wednesday ordered shops to remove Coca-Cola’s top brands that had been bottled at its Dunkirk plant, following a similar move by Belgium two days earlier.

The illnesses have been linked to drinks bottled and canned at Coca-Cola’s plants in Antwerp, Belgium, and Dunkirk, France.

As concerns about the health scare continued, Coca-Cola on Friday tried to calm Swiss consumers about soft drinks imported from France, offering to exchange imported cans free of charge. Most Coke products in Switzerland are bottled locally or imported from Austria and there have been no reports of illness in Switzerland.

Coca-Cola in Spain has said there is no danger from its products made in Spain and consumers should choose products labeled in Spanish.

Coca-Cola said Friday that it was surprised that Belgium had given the all-clear to only some of its products. Spokesman Paul Pendergrass said the company planned to supply the Health Ministry with further details of product tests.

Coke, its image bruised by the largest product recall in its 113-year history, has blamed the health problems on poor-quality carbon dioxide used to carbonate drinks made at Antwerp, Belgium, and to a fungicide used to treat wooden pallets at its plant in Dunkirk, France.

Coke shares sank $1.13 to close at $63.44 on the New York Stock Exchange.