美國環境健康中心周三發布的一份報告稱，百事可樂在加州以外地區的產品中仍在使用含鼠類致癌物質的焦糖色素。百事可樂回應稱，美國其他地區的配方修訂工作將于214年2月完成。去年3月，可口可樂和百事可樂均被查出在產品中使用含有會讓鼠類致癌物質的焦糖色素，事后雙方均表示會更換色素配方，不再使用這種名為有4-甲基咪唑的化學物質。今年3月，該中心對可口可樂和百事可樂在加州和其他十個州的產品進行檢測，發現雙方在加州的產品中均不含該物質；在其他州購買的10份可口可樂飲料中，有9份不含4-MEI，或含量微乎其微；而10份百事可樂中均含有該物質。不過，美國食品和藥品管理局去年曾表示，一個人每天要喝1000罐以上含有4-甲基咪唑的蘇打飲料才會達到研究中所說的致癌級別。

Pepsi-Cola is still using caramel coloring containing a chemical linked to cancer in rodents, a report released on Wednesday showed, more than a year after the beverage maker promised to phase it out.

Pepsi-Cola is still using caramel coloring containing a chemical linked to cancer in rodents, a report released on Wednesday showed, more than a year after the beverage maker promised to phase it out.

The Center for Environmental Health said that PepsiCo Inc. lagged its rival Coca-Cola in removing the chemical, called 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI.

Coke and Pepsi said in March 2012 that they would make changes to the production of the caramel coloring used in their namesake colas to avoid the need to label the packages with a cancer warning following a California ballot initiative aimed at limiting people's exposure to toxic chemicals.

This spring, CEH tested samples of Coke and Pepsi purchased from California and 10 other states. Its findings showed no 4-MI in any soda from California. In the samples from the other states, CEH said nine of 10 Coke drinks had little or none of the chemical, while all the Pepsi samples did.

"Pepsi's delay is inexplicable," Michael Green, CEH's executive director, said in a statement. "We urge the company to take swift action to provide all Americans with the same safer product they're selling in California."

In response, PepsiCo said the modification for the rest of the United States would be completed by February 2014. It said it is also undertaking the effort globally, even though regulators in the United States, Europe and Canada consider the chemical safe.

Very high levels of 4-MI have been linked to cancer in animals. It was added last year to a list of chemicals covered by California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65.

Coke said it modified its sodas for California first so they would not have to carry a warning. But since it makes no sense to have separate inventories of products, it started using a modified caramel for U.S. markets beyond California.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said last year that a person would have to drink "well over a thousand cans of soda a day to reach the doses administered in the studies that have shown links to cancer in rodents."

(Source: Reuters)

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（中國日報網英語點津 Helen ）