Coke to Resume Belgian Production Today

Coca-Cola Co. prepared to resume Belgian production today after the government agreed to let two factories reopen under strict conditions, two weeks after the first reports of illnesses from children who drank the company’s soft drinks. But a Coca-Cola plant in nearby northern France remained closed as judicial officials opened an investigation to determine why hundreds of people who drank from cans produced there fell ill. Rat poison was detected on the outside of one soft drink can, but no cause of the illnesses has been detected, said Francois Muguet, a state prosecutor. The Belgian government, meanwhile, continued to ban imports on beverages produced at the Coca-Cola plant in Dunkirk, France. But it agreed to allow Coca-Cola to resume production at factories in the Belgian communities of Antwerp and Ghent. Without determining the cause, the country’s top health official termed the illnesses an accident. Shares of Atlanta-based Coca-Cola fell 88 cents to close at $61.75 on the NYSE.