2006 Belgian Dioxin Scare: Lessons from the Perrier and Coca-Cola Benzene Crisis

Ross E. Getman

Belgian food safety officials have quarantined several hundred pig and chicken farms while they conduct an investigation into the apparent contamination of animal feed products with the carcinogen dioxin.

The last major dioxin scare in Belgium was in 1999. While that crisis may lend the most obvious comparison, there are also lessons to be learned from the 1990 benzene crisis involving Perrier mineral water and the 1998 and 1999 benzene crises involving Coca-Cola and other soft drinks.

In early February 1990, a North Carolina county chemist discovered trace amounts of benzene, a known carcinogen, in samples of Perrier water. He had been using Perrier as the standard for purity. His tests showed benzene at levels of 11 ppb to 15 ppb in the Perrier, well above the EPA limit. Perrier commenced a limited, voluntary recall. Initially, one consultant speculated that it had been a worker with a dirty rag. Other samples from around the world, however, also tested positive. A wordwide recall was announced. There was a dramatic and long-term drop in market share as restaurant customers tried other waters and liked them.

One rule for industry is: "get the facts straight, don't speculate, and don't make misleading or erroneous statements." The first Perrier accounts speculated that it was a worker with a dirty rag and was limited to North America -- this incorrect early speculation was oft-repeated over the years in business school classes on how not to handle a public relations crisis.

A second rule is to have a contingency plan ready to put into effect.

In 1999, BBC News reported that Coca-Cola's explanation of how some of its soft drinks became contaminated has been dismissed as "highly unlikely" by European Union investigators. France, Belgium, and Luxembourg ordered the recall of more than 65 million cans of Coke soft drink products from the trade. The Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Saudi Arabia banned all Coke products coming from Belgium.

TIME quoted the author of a book on the disastrous public relations management of Perrier's 1990 recall saying, that Coca-cola was "giving people the impression that they are hiding things."

Hundreds of people became ill after drinking Coca-Cola products in France and Belgium during May and June. Withdrawn batches included cans of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, caffeine free Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Lilt, Diet Lilt, Lilt Mango Mandarin, Sprite, Sprite Lite, Fanta, Dr Pepper, Schweppes Shandy and Schweppes Slimline Shandy. The explanation given by Coca-Cola was two-fold: some products, the company said were contaminated due to carbon dioxide tainted with benzene (as had happened with Perrier in 1990). Other products were contaminated due to fungicide on wooden pallets used in shipping.

Britvic Soft Drinks said it was withdrawing 2.25m cans that may have been affected, including regular and diet Orange Tango, regular Lemon Tango, Pepsi Max, Diet Pepsi, regular 7Up and 7Up Light.

A report by the European Commission's consumer protection department concluded that it was "not entirely satisfied" with the company's explanation of the source of the problem. The investigators opined that Coca-Cola's claim that fungicide used on pallets at its plant in Dunkirk, France, was partly responsible was "highly unlikely."

The report criticized French and Belgian authorities for placing too much confidence in the risk control measures followed by Coca-Cola. Commenting on the Commission report, a Coca-Cola spokesman said: "We've worked very hard to co-operate with all the relevant authorities in providing detailed information and the facts behind the incidents."

At the time, Coca-Cola official Neville Isdell said: "The extraordinary effects of the crisis are something which will take six months and may be even nine months to work through the system."

The oddest thing about the 1999 benzene crisis was that the same thing had happened in England the previous year after levels of benzene in the range 10 ppb - 20 ppb range were detected. Yet, none of the dozens of articles from 1999 mentioned the fact. In June 1998, millions of cans and bottles of Ribena Twist , Coca Cola, Tango, Lilt and Pepsi were recalled. That summer products were recalled in Israel too that Bloomberg reported was due to benzene.

The Belgian authorities I consulted with recently did not know that internal documents from 1990 show that the soda companies and their trade association knew that benzene could form from the mere interaction of sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid -- to include levels far above the legal limits applicable to drinking water.

The chief lesson for industry is the importance of candor with regulatory authorities. Consumers are unforgiving where their health is concerned if they detect the maker of a mass consumer product has engaged in concealment of health risks relating to established carcinogens. As Warren Buffet said in 1991 in another context, "If you lose dollars for the company by bad decisions, I will be understanding. If you lose reputation for the firm, I will be ruthless."

The chief lessons for regulatory authorities are: (1) demand candor from industry, (2) trust but verify, and (3) if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.