Posted on 03/27/2007 4:10:01 PM PDT by blam
Sweet victory for NZ schoolgirls
By Nick Squires in Sydney
Last Updated: 5:11pm BST 27/03/2007
It has been a staple of picnics and playgrounds for generations of children, but amateur sleuthing by a pair of schoolgirls has shown that Ribena sold in Australia and New Zealand is not all that it claims to be.
Schoolgirls Anna Devathasan (L) and Jenny Suo found there's no C in Ribena.
The makers of the cordial, GlaxoSmithKline, were fined nearly £80,000 today after pleading guilty at a court in New Zealand to making misleading claims about the amount of Vitamin C the drink contains.
The admission came after dogged detective work by Auckland schoolgirls Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo, who tested Ribena as part of a school science project.
The results of their laboratory work forced a chastened GlaxoSmithKline to admit that its cartoned, ready-to-drink Ribena had no detectable vitamin C, despite claims it contained seven milligrams per 100 millilitres.
The company also admitted it may have misled New Zealand customers by claiming that the blackcurrants in Ribena syrup contained four times the vitamin C of oranges.
The schoolgirls carried out the tests in 2004 when they were both aged 14, but their findings were initially ignored by the manufacturers.
They eventually came to the attention of the NZ Commerce Commission, a business watchdog, which took GlaxoSmithKline to court.
In addition to the fine, the global giant was also ordered to run ads explaining the real contents of the drink.
Ribena, which was first made in the 1930s and distributed to British children during World War II, is sold in 22 countries.
Commerce Commission lawyer Nicholas Flanagan told the district court in Auckland the product was marketed as being healthy when in fact it contained more sugar than Coca-Cola.
Ms Devathasan said she and her friend were amazed that their simple experiment had led to a court conviction.
A spokesman for the company in London said the problem arose when Ribena in Australia and New Zealand was left on shop shelves for too long, causing the vitamin C to degrade.
She said there was no such problem with Ribena sold in Britain.
"Our testing equipment in New Zealand and Australia was not sensitive enough to pick up the fact that the vitamin C was degrading," she said.
Asked if the company had been embarrassed by the schoolgirls’ revelations, she said: "Obviously we would rather our own processes had established the problem."
Fine, as long as they don't explain the real contents of Vegamite.
Of course they can be trusted. They wouldn't mislead consumers, would they?
"Is Ribena a halal product?
Yes, Ribena is halal for muslims."
http://www.ribena.co.uk/accessible/faq/index.html#16
In Chemistry class when I was 15 (10th Grade) we did Vitamin C titration using Iodine... What we checked was pee. Pee from someone who drank OJ that morning, Pee from someone who took a Vitamin C supplement and Pee from someone who didn't take Vitamin C in any form. It was an interesting experiment.
SO???? What was the result?? Inquiring minds want to know!
Set these girls loose on some global warming investigations.
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