About a year ago, I posted some observations regarding the increasing number of convenience stores in London selling Coke Light instead of Diet Coke. Well I just got back from London and took a closer look at the situation and boy am I amzed or scared or something for folks in Britain.

In every place where there was Coke Light displayed instead of Diet Coke, I took a close look at the coke bottles as well as the Sprite bottles. You know what these whatevers are doing? They're sticking stickers over the printing on the side of the label where the ingredients are. What is being covered up in many cases is lettering that looks to me like it is Indian or Pakistani in natujre.

In other words coke products from the middle east made with heaven only knows what kind of water, is travelling long distances in heaven only knows what condition to end up in London stores and then is being priced at the same price as stores that sell the products that are made in Britain with none of this subterfuge. I even saw on one bottle the notation made in Georgia and I am sure they did not mean Atlanta Georgia.

I am wondering if tourists and Brits alike are

a) aware of what is going on

b) have any fear of drinking coca cola products brought in from the middle east

c) don't give a damn as they won't touch coca cola products at all

I know I would probably not buy any coca cola product in London with any of these labels placed on them.

For some non believers, next time you are in a convenience store in London if you see that in the display there are 500 ml bottles of coca cola light as opposed to diet coke, take a close look at the labels on these and other coca cola products. It might give you pause in buying the stuff.

And I wonder if the British government consumer affair bureaus are aware of this.

Not a worldly discourse no doubt but an importnat one at that.

The surgar free version of Coke has been marketed as Coca Cola Lite in Europe for years . . the word "Diet" has a medicinal connocation and is usually avoided in marketing of any food product.

Rich

All through Europe and South America Diet Coke is known as Coke Light.

If you ask for Diet Coke you will frequently get a blank look.:-B

Believe me, I know that. Like I said about a year ago, I started a thread. Personally, I don't like the tast of Coca Cola Light as compared to Diet Coke bugt you missed the point I was trying to make.

In the UK, it is called Diet coke and it tastes exactly like the diet coke I buy in the US. Personally, during the last week my biggest problem is I like Diet Vanilla coke at home and many stores, even those carrying Diet Coke (as opposed to the imported garbage) did not have Vanilla Diet Coke (they had Diet Coke with lemon a great deal) but again if the can says Coca Cola Light, it was not made in the UK, it was imported from some place and not just nearby countries like Germany or France or Spain. Take a close look at the bottles, look under the labels they are sticking on and see all sorts of strange looking language. It's not the Cyrillic alphabet, it's not Greek, it looks like Pakastani or arabic writing. Why would they import coke products from there? And how safe is the water being used? Those are the questions.

Again, I'd love to hear from Brits whether they or the consumer affairs departments in Britain are aware of this and whether they think there is a safety issue involved. I know I wouldn't dare drink any of that garbage.

I understand that with a bottle of regular coke, if you put a tooth in it and leave it overnight, the tooth will be gone in the morning. Completely dissolved.

Can Diet or Light Coke do the same?

If so, then I wouldn't worry too much where the bottle comes from. Nothing could survive in that Coke bottle anyhow.

If you're worried about the coca cola being produced in the Middle East, never fear as Georgia is in Central Asia.

Put a tooth into any acidic product and it will be disolved. But you still use acid products to brush your teeth because it gets the food particles first!

I don't drink regular coke anymore because of the sugar...I do drink diet coke. Personally I would prefer to drink a nice pint of Guiness but doctors' orders and all that and to a degree I am addicted to caffeine!

But really, at least to this eminent person, it is absolutely not true that coca cola light and diet coke are the same product. They taste completely completely different (with the former having a vile taste at least to this coke addict)!

Whatever brand name this junk is marketed as, your underlying point is pretty obscure.

It's pretty unlikely this is fake Coke. Almost certainly the bottler in wherever can ship his product into the UK at a lower price than the British bottler (which, from memory, is a mostly-owned subsidiary of the Atlanta business).

So who on earth cares a rat's toenail?

If the local Coke bottler is so incompetent that he can be undercut by parallel imports from wherever, that's his problem.

If the Coca-Cola corporation is so incompetent at quality control that Middle Eastern, or Asian, product is "inferior" (a bizarre concept, but anyway), and that matters to you, then complain to the guys in Atlanta.

But to suggest that the British government should waste my taxes to cocoon the local bottler from competition...

Even by the standards of this meddling government it'd be insane. But it couldn't happen - partly because it'd guarantee the relevant department public ridicule. Both the tabloids and the papers you read without moving your lips would roast them.

But most importantly, because it'd be illegal. Hindustani Junkdrink Bottlers Ltd have every bit as much right to sell their products here as General Motors or British Petroleum. And no bureaucrat has the right to interfere with them.

It's called free trade. You might try it in your country sometime.

I'm with flanneruk on this one (although maybe a touch more diplomatic!)

In general/grocery stores in the UK it's increasingly commonplace to find "foreign script" labelling on all sorts of items from toothpaste to chocolate bars to (yes) soft drinks. I won't pretend to understand enough about economics or business practices to explain this but obviously it's connected with the freeing up of trade & customs barriers across Europe.

I don't have any concerns over either the safety or authenticity of these products as I am 100% sure that they are "officially" licenced. I would bet that drinking Diet (or Light) Coke will have the same effect on your teeth regardless of where you buy or drink it.

My only misgivings are whether or not the appropriate taxes & duties have been paid (which I suspect is unlikely in most cases).

xyz123:

You better not eat Barilla pasta or Lindt chocolate. There are *arabic* characters on the packages.

It is a common pracice to print labels in a number of languages in order to ease the logistics on products which will be exported.

In general I would be less concerned about the water which is used to dilute Coke syrup than about the syrup itself which contains substances not openly declared on the label.

I have never payed any attention to this kind of thing. But now I just had to go and check my Barilla-spaghetti package. And it has ingredients list in 14 languages and five different letters: Roman, Cyrillic, Arabic, Japanese and what I suppose is Thai.

BTW:

If you've never had the misfortune to be on the receiving end of a presentation from Coca-Cola's international management (and if you haven't, there's one blessing you can count), you might be unaware of the obsession Coke claims to have with its water.

Every bottling plant in the world, they proudly tell you, starts with an identical water treatment machine, bringing all water up to a global standard of pH, calcium content, purity etc etc etc.

So, Mr Retailer, they tell you, you can be sure that the Coke on your shelves anywhere in the world, from New Zealand's South Island to Kiruna in the Arctic Circle, will taste, and be, just the same.

The possibility that a bottler, anywhere, isn't running this machine properly, they go on, will pretty much get a Delta Airlines 747-full of Cokeheads to leave Atlanta at a second's notice. But it can't happen, because our quality control system will alert us instantly...

Is xyz123 telling us the Coca Cola Corporation has been lying to me all these years?

As an American living in the Middle East, I consume locally made products such as Coca-Cola Light, Diet Pepsi, Sprite Light, etc on a regular basis. Of course they're made locally - under license from the parent company.

Sure Coca Cola Light made in the Middle East may taste a wee bit different than that produced in the US. Big deal. But to worry about the water? Please. We're not talking about the Ganges River here, which is in Asia (India) not the Middle East.

Thanx to all for the responses although I never meant for my tone to produce such belligerent answers. I was just asking some questions that came to mind when I saw this.

Of course, there's also the question as to whether the transport of products over such long distances may lead to an alternation of taste as well as this business such as Budweiser beer advertising that all its products have a born on date so that the freshness of the product can be determined.

I'm sorry if my tone was too harsh for what I thought was an innocent observation.

Cheers...

As "single-serving" Coca Cola containers continue to become larger in the U.S., I find the little cans available in Europe to be an interesting curiosity. I brought a couple of the 150 ml size home last week just to show to people. (I think they're designed mostly for the mixing individual drinks.)

Well, I guess with a respone from the OP this thread is closed. But, just for your info, I work for an Australian oompany that was recently bought out in a hostile takeover by CCA (that's Coca Cola Amatil - ie. the holders of the bottling franchise in this part of the world.)

I just have to say that their marketing methods are questionable -interesting, but despicable. Not casting aspersions on the scientific quality of the water used - just on the whole ethos of selling a highly value-added product that has no conceivable value to anyone.

Who cares if Coke Light is not the same as Diet Coke?? Jeez - isn't there something more important, OP, for you to think about?

Seriously you went to London and as a pet project checked out the Coke and Sprite? You really need to have a word with your self. Your list of answers was one short d) I have a life

The tooth thing--you can do it with orange or grapefruit juice, too.

Why would anyone want to puta tooth in a glass of Coke overnight?

You put it under your pillow for the Tooth Fairy.

I suppose it's just possible that some people might prefer the taste of Coke to Steradent first thing in the morning....