Pepsi Boss `99.99%' Sure -- Syringes Can't Be Getting Into Cans At Plants, He Argues

As reports of syringes and other objects in Pepsi cans spread to more states, Pepsi-Cola Co. confronted a growing public-relations crisis by putting the head of its U.S. operations on national television.

The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday it was investigating at least a dozen complaints with the help of the FBI, while at least one person was arrested on charges of making a false report. Neither the company nor federal officials have ordered a recall of Pepsi products.

Craig Weatherup, Pepsi's North American division president and chief executive, appeared on ABC's "Nightline" last night and all three networks this morning. He was asked whether he was positive that tampering had not occurred in the plants.

"I can't give you a 100 percent guarantee, but I would assure you it is 99.99 percent assured that nothing is happening in the facilities themselves, in the plants. It's literally, physically impossible," he said on NBC's "Today" show.

Pepsi's highly mechanized production process churns out some 30 million cans a day, he said.

"These cans were produced at very different plants, some six months ago, some six weeks ago, some six days ago," Weatherup said. The cans are typically turned upside down, blasted with hot air and water and then flipped to be filled and sealed, a process that takes seconds.

FIRST REPORTED IN PIERCE COUNTY

The first report of syringes in Pepsi cans came out of Federal Way and Fircrest, Pierce County, last week. Since then, authorities and media have reported cases in more than 20 states.

The syringes are of the type commonly used by diabetics and available in drugstores. FDA officials would not say whether they were all the same brand.

In Washington, D.C., FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler yesterday said that the incidents appeared to be unrelated and that FDA officials had not ruled out the possibility that some of the syringes were placed in cans by publicity seekers.

"History shows that after an initial complaint of tampering receives widespread publicity, there are always subsequent complaints, many of which turn out to be false," he said.

Kessler said a Pennsylvania man had been arrested on federal charges of making a false report of finding a syringe in a Pepsi can.

In Seattle, FDA spokeswoman Sue Hutchcroft said the product would not be recalled unless the FDA has good reason to believe a syringe was put into a can during the bottling process.

In order to determine at what stage any tampering occurred, Hutchcroft said, the FDA would need to find a sealed can with a syringe still inside.

Hutchcroft said tests at the agency's forensic laboratory in Cincinnati did not turn up contaminants in the tampered soft drinks reported in Washington. She said investigators were checking stores for other cans from the same batches.

Corporate Pepsi spokeswoman Anne Ward said the FDA reassured the company that there is no risk of viruses such as hepatitis or HIV being passed in the soda. "No bacteriological matter could survive in a soft drink like Pepsi," she said.

Seattle FDA investigators have questioned employees at Alpac Corp., the Seattle company that bottles Pepsi products for Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Alaska and Guam, along with the consumers in Fircrest and Federal Way who found the first syringes and the grocers who sold them the product.

Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the cans were tampered with after they left the factory. However, Ward of Pepsi said aluminum cans are virtually tamper-proof.

"That flat piece of aluminum on top is impossible to fool around with without letting out the carbon dioxide," she said. "When the pressure is relieved, the product goes flat, and that would be evident to the customer right away."

None of the Washington state people who found the syringes reported flat soft drinks.

Officials at Alpac say they have no idea how the syringes could have gotten into the cans, which are trucked to the Seattle plant by Reynolds Aluminum.

Although about 45 employees work a shift at the bottling plant, said Alpac spokesman Steve Bryant, far fewer would be at hand during the two to three seconds it takes to clean, fill and seal the cans.

The incident is not expected to derail the June 25 closing of the sale of the remaining 85 percent of the bottler to Pepsi-Cola North America, said Alpac President Carl Behnke.

CONSUMERS SHAKEN BY REPORTS

While Alpac and grocery managers said it is too soon to tell if the needle scare has had an impact on soft-drink sales, interviews with a dozen shoppers at Seattle markets showed some consumers were shaken by the reports.

"I pay for packaging, why should I have to pour it into a cup?" said Craig Magda as he loaded his groceries into his car outside the Queen Anne Thriftway yesterday. Magda didn't buy his usual half case of Diet Pepsi this week and said he wouldn't buy Pepsi again until he was sure it was safe.

Several other customers were still buying Pepsi products but said they were taking extra caution in opening and drinking them.

Managers posted a notice over the Pepsi shelves at the Queen Anne store Monday advising Diet Pepsi drinkers to follow the FDA warnings to pour the soda into a glass before drinking.

Meanwhile, Earl "Tex" Triplett, 82, and his wife Mary, 78, the Fircrest couple who discovered the first syringe in a Pepsi can, are happy to have alerted the public but are tired of their celebrity status and the early-morning phone calls from media.

The Tripletts have already gone through what Mary Triplett called "more than enough" questioning by FDA investigators, and they aren't sure they've heard the last.

Earl Triplett has given up Pepsi in favor of iced tea and lemonade.