Morrisons and Silver Spring withdraw soft drinks containing benzene

Monday 10 April 2006

The Silver Spring Mineral Water Co. Ltd and Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc withdrew products on 31 March 2006 because they contained benzene at levels above 10 parts per billion (ppb).

The Agency has issued a Food Alert for Information.

The only affected Silver Spring or Morrisons products are:

• Popstar Lemon and Lime flavour still drink 330ml. Batch code SSL5207. Best before 22 APR 06
• Morrisons Pineapple and Grapefruit Crush – No added sugar 2 litre. Batch code 6024C3. Best before JUL 06

Both products contained benzene levels above the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for drinking water and the Agency asked for these products to be removed from sale. The affected products were discovered as a result of a survey by the Food Standards Agency. The results of the survey to investigate levels of benzene in 150 soft drinks on sale in the UK were published by the Agency on Friday 31 March 2006.

People who have inhaled very high levels of benzene in the workplace have been found to increase their risk of cancer.

Benzene has been detected at far lower levels in some soft drinks. People would need to drink more than 20 litres of a drink containing benzene at 10 ppb to equal the amount of benzene you would breathe from city air in a day.

The presence of benzene in soft drinks is thought to be a result of interaction between the preservative sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Sodium benzoate is added to drinks to prevent the growth of moulds.