France Halts Ban on Coca-Cola Beverages

France Thursday lifted its ban on selling Coca-Cola products canned at the company's Dunkirk plant after the French food safety agency AFSSA said they were safe for consumption, according to a report from Reuters.

"It appears today — and this is what the food safety agency says —that neither the product nor its packaging could be contaminated and that, therefore, sales can restart," finance minister Dominque Strauss-Kahn told reporters.

"We have lifted the suspension on sales," junior trade minister Marylise Lebranchu said. "The Dunkirk plant can resume normal production."

However, the government said in a statement, it was maintaining its ban on exports to Belgium and Luxembourg of specific batches being investigated for possible contamination.

France banned selling Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light, Fanta and Sprite cans produced at Dunkirk as well as those imported from Belgium after a total of 200 people in both countries complained of nausea, dizziness and aches after drinking Coke products.

Belgium, where the scare erupted almost two weeks ago, has said it would lift the ban on Dunkirk Coke cans as soon as France deemed them safe and allowed them to be exported.

Coca-Cola France attributed the health scare to a disinfectant sprayed on pallets used to transport cans to Belgium. The French unit of the U.S. drinks giant has maintained that the quality of the liquid inside its cans was never compromised.

In a two-page statement, AFSSA said tests had ruled out the possibility of any contamination during the manufacture and packaging of the cans, but it did not rule out that a problem may have occurred during storage or distribution.