WASHINGTON — Coca-Cola is recalling around 2,000 cases of soda because they may contain unidentified "foreign material," according to the FDA.
The recall affects Diet Coke, Sprite and Fanta Orange sold in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Most of the affected cases were Sprite —1,557 cases, with 417 Diet Coke cases and 14 Fanta cases also included in the recall.
The FDA didn't specify what kind of foreign material may have contaminated the drinks, or what risks, if any, it poses to consumers.
Here are the affected products:
- Diet Coke 12-packs marked with lot numbers JAN2924MBD3 and UPC 49000028911 and have a best-by date of Jan. 29, 2024.
- Fanta Orange 12-packs with lot numbers UL2924MBD3 and UPC 49000030730, with a best-by date of July 29, 2024.
- Sprite 12-packs with lot numbers JUL2924MBD3 and UPC 49000028928, with a best-by date of July 29, 2024.
The recall is being voluntarily made by the Coca-Cola company on Nov. 6. In an email, the company said the recall was complete and no products remained on store shelves. Customers with affected products can return the soda to the store they bought them from for a refund or exchange.
Food safety experts and federal agencies use the terms “extraneous” or “foreign” materials to describe things like metal fragments, rubber gaskets and bits of bugs that somehow make it into packaged goods.
And those recalls are relatively common.
“Extraneous materials” triggered nine recalls in 2022 of more than 477,000 pounds of food regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service — triple the number of recalls tied to food contaminated with toxic E. coli bacteria.
Plastic pieces from frayed conveyor belts, wood shards from produce pallets, metal shavings or wire from machinery are all common. So are rocks, sticks and bugs that can make it from the field to the factory.
Some contamination may even be expected, the FDA acknowledges in a handbook.
“It is economically impractical to grow, harvest or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects," the agency wrote.
Both the USDA and FDA ask companies to promptly notify them when food is potentially contaminated with objects that may harm consumers. The agencies then determine whether recalls are necessary. Most recalls are voluntary and initiated by the companies, though the agencies can request or mandate the action.