The Coca-Cola group in Japan will increase the number of soft drinks it is recalling, due to suspected iron contamination, to 2.37 million bottles from the initially planned 570,000.
The types of drinks to be recalled will also be increased, to 27 from the original six, the group said Tuesday.
The drinks, all bottled, contain powdered iron that was accidentally injected during production. The group claims consuming the contaminated drinks is not hazardous.
The brands affected include: Aquarius in 2-liter bottles, Qoo Tottemo Orange in 500-ml bottles, and Coca-Cola, Diet Coca-Cola, Fanta Orange and Fanta Grape in 1.5-liter bottles.
They were mainly delivered to the Kansai, Hokuriku and Tokai regions.
Correcting an earlier statement, the group said the products in question were manufactured "on March 31 and before," instead of March 26-30, at one of the group's factories in Shiga Prefecture.
"We are sorry that our company's checkups on the scope of products subject to the recall have been inadequate," a Coca-Cola official said.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.