New Delhi: An emergency meeting of the Central Council for Food Standards (CCFS) has been convened on February 13 to finalise stringent quality norms for soft drinks and bottled drinking water, so as to enable the Government issue the final notification on the standards, Health Minister Sushma Swaraj said tonight (Feb 5, 2004).

At the meeting, the CCFS would discuss the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on soft drinks and suggestions on the draft notification and take a final view on them so that the final notification on quality norms and standards can be issued expeditiously, she told reporters.

The JPC, which had submitted its report to Parliament yesterday, had upheld the findings of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) that 12 branded products of Pepsi and Coca-Cola it examined did contain pesticide residues and asked Government to formulate stringent quality norms for carbonated drinks.