Heineken Restarts Contaminated Brewery

["Jim Hoerner" <jim_hoerner@HOTMAIL.COM>]

Heineken Restarts Brewery Contaminated by Radiation (Update1)

By Nicolas Johnson



Paris, April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Heineken NV, the world's third- largest 

brewer, resumed beer production at its brewery in southern France after it 

halted bottling for a week because of radioactive contamination.



The factory, which produces about 5.8 million bottles of Heineken, Amstel 

and other beer brands on average each week, restarted filling bottles and 

kegs on Monday, the company said.



``In principle there's no risk,'' said Corinne Goff-Lavielle, a spokeswoman 

for the Amsterdam-based brewer.



A leak occurred in a repair room at the brewery on April 7 after a 

maintenance person incorrectly handled an instrument containing cesium-137, 

a radioactive metal widely used in devices to detect liquid flow in pipes 

and tanks.



The leak was noticed two days later and local firefighters sealed off the 

area to avoid further contamination.



``There's no possibility of contaminated beer,'' Goff- Lavielle said earlier 

this week.



Measures of the most-exposed personnel showed ``weak internal contamination 

not requiring any particular medical attention,'' France's Nuclear Safety 

Authority said when it announced the leak on Monday.



Heineken's brewery is located in Marseille and supplies the south of France. 

It has the capacity to produce 100 million liters annually.



Consumers are paying more attention to drink-production incidents after 

benzene was found in Source Perrier SA mineral water in the U.S. in 1990, 

prompting a worldwide recall. In 1999, pesticides detected on cans of 

Coca-Cola Co. soda were linked to illness in 250 Belgian and French 

consumers, prompting a ban on the beverages from several countries and a 

recall by Coca- Cola.



The largest single source of cesium-137 in the environment came from fallout 

of atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s, according 

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Web site. Nuclear-reactor waste 

and accidental leaks such as from the meltdown of the reactor at Chernobyl 

in the Ukraine also release cesium-137, the Web site says.



More than 25,000 radioactive sources are used in industry in France, the 

nuclear safety authority said. While it considers the Heineken incident 

``minor,'' it wants to use the event to raise awareness.

Last Updated: April 17, 2003 08:19 EDT



http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aD7TliShMdso&refer=europe



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