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| FDA has contended that caffeine must be mentioned in the list of ingredients as “it is not a flavouring agent at all”. Photo: Bloomberg |
At some point in our life, we have all heard the story about Coca Cola containing Cocaine.
Well, some of you maybe surprised to know that it was actually a true story.
Coca Cola did use cocaine as one of the ingredients in their drinks.
But that isn't the most surprising part of the story. You'll be shocked to know that the company still uses Coca leaves in their drinks.
Before we dwell more upon this, let us first five into the history of Coca Cola.
In 1886, Alcohol was banned in the United States. As a result, a man named John Pemberton who owned a company producing an alcoholic beverage French Wine Coca had to come up with something new.
Thus, Coca Cola was born. A non alcoholic carbonated drink made from Coca leaves and Cola Nuts.
Coca Cola was marketed as having medicinal properties. It was believed that it could cure indigestion, nerve disorders, headache and even impotence.
It was believed that Coca-Cola contained about 9-10 milligrams of Cocaine, which is a significant amount when you compare it with a regular dose of cocaine consumed by an active user which is about 50-70 milligrams.
Now, you must be thinking. How was this even allowed by the American government?
Well, the answer to this question is that, back in the day Cocaine wasn't quite considered the harmful substance as it is done today.
Cocaine was actually seen as a medicinal drug prescribed by Doctors for almost every other ailment.
But soon enough, the addictive nature of cocaine came to light and it was eventually banned.
So this led Coca Cola to change their recipe and remove cocaine from their drinks in 1903.
Along with the ban on cocaine, the import of Coca leaves was also banned.
This left Coca Cola in fix. It could have been the end of the famous sugary drink as we know it. But luckily, because of the soaring demand for Coca Cola and the pressure from Pharmaceutical companies, the government allowed one company to legally import Coca Leaves from Peru.
This Company was "The Stepan Company".
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| Stepan Company |
They processed the Coca leaves and separated Cocaine from the leaves.
The cocaine would then go to the pharmaceutical companies for production of anaethsthetic agents, while the leftover extract from the leaves would go to Coca Cola for preparation of our favourite drink.
Coca Cola claims that they have perfected the process of separating cocaine from the leaves, making it completely cocaine free.
But is it still possible that some amount of cocaine is still present in coke?
Think about it and let us know your thoughts in the comments.