No Wonder We Love our Coke

Coca-Cola may face a fatwa, or decree by Muslim leaders if more samples prove to have liquor in them following the discovery of alcohol in a bottle of the beverage.

As reported in the Packaging Blog, “In June of this year a Mpumalanga doctor, Haroon Dindar, bought a crate of 1.25 liter bottles of Coke from a bottling plant in Ermelo South Africa. One of the bottles that he opened had a smell of alcohol so he sent the contents for testing. The test showed it had in fact contained 0.925g of alcohol per 100ml.”

They determined it was an isolated incident, but how exactly does alcohol find its way into a bottle of soda pop? How did Coca-cola manage to keep this so quiet? I think it’s an even bigger story than finding human digits in chili at Wendys.

Coca-Cola Cocaine & Me

Yes, it’s true. Original Coke did contain cocaine. In fact, the product was originally sold as a patent medicine–perhaps “it’s good for you” was their slogan? The amount of cocaine was unlikely to be significant because then as now, an ingredient is mostly useful on the label. Read this brief history on Coca-Cola and Cocaine.