Coca-Cola to pay NIS 2 million for beverages’ bad smell

The payment will be made as charitable donations.

By EFRAT AHARONI/GLOBES
Central Bottling Company Ltd. (Coca-Cola Israel) will pay customers almost NIS 2 million as part of a settlement of a class-action suit. The payment will be made as charitable donations.
In November 2009, Michal Gilboa sued Central Bottling Company in Tel Aviv District Court in a class-action suit.
The issue of the lawsuit was a flawed ingredient supplied to the company by its carbon dioxide supplier, Makhteshim Agan Industries Ltd., which resulted in the production and marketing of beverages that contained small amounts of foreign substances that caused the soft drinks to have a bad smell.
Gilboa said Central Bottling Company had violated public health regulations and a supervision of products and services directive by manufacturing and marketing flawed beverages that contained hazardous substances.
She also said the company had misled the public and violated its disclosure duty by not notifying consumers about the beverages’ ingredients and that the beverages were not fit for human consumption.