Pepsi and Coke Tweak Manufacturing To Remove Alleged Carcinogen

Head to the office vending machine. Feed in a dollar, and outcomes a chilled can of Coke�or Pepsi, if that�s the way you swing.

Crack it open. A stream of brown liquid flows out. It gently fizzles against your tongue. You immediately taste the sweetener, which leaves your mouth�s 10,000 or so taste buds tingling.

What you can�t taste: 4-methylimidazole, a chemical formed during the soda�s manufacturing and regularly found in caramel coloring.

One controversial study on lab mice and rats concluded it was a possible carcinogen. That was enough for PepsiCo and Coca-Cola to mix up how they make the soda. Both soda companies have directed suppliers to alter the manufacturing of their caramel-color additive and reduce levels of the disputed chemical.

Both Pepsi and Coke stress this is not a change to the soda recipe per se. You won�t notice a difference in taste, they say.

�The caramel color in all of our products has been, is and always will be safe, and The Coca-Cola Company is not changing the world-famous formula for our Coca-Cola beverages. Over the years, we have updated our manufacturing processes from time to time, but never altered our Secret Formula,� Coke spokesman Ben Sheidler says in an email to FORBES.

A Pepsi spokeswoman echoed similar sentiments.

Any soda destined for California has already been altered, where a new law requires a cancer warning label on drinks with a certain level of carcinogens. Soon the new formula will appear on shelves nationwide.

The American Beverage Association called the campaign against the chemical �nothing more than �scare tactics� by the organization that conducted the study, the Center for Science in the Public Interest. There�s no proof that the chemical �is a threat to human health,� the trade association said in a news release. (Pepsi and Coke compete mainly with Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Monster Beverage.)

Coke cans with cancer labels rolling out of vending machines. Scary thought. It hasn�t spooked Wall Street though�both Pepsi and Coke finished Friday up about 0.3%.