Stung by doubts raised over the safety of its fastest-growing brand in India, PepsiCo on Friday asserted that Mountain Dew was a totally safe product complying with all food standards nationally and globally, and was the same that was being marketed in the US.

Soft drinks, hard truths

"The Mountain Dew being sold in India stands by all the food safety parameters. The product is the same as what we sell in a number of developed countries, including the US," PepsiCo India Holdings Executive Director (exports and external affairs) Abhiram Seth told PTI.

Last week, Centre for Science and Environment, a non-government organisation said the Mountain Dew contained caffeine.

"A bottle of any Pepsi softdrink, including Mountain Dew, is the safest beverage one can have. We have been positioning our softdrinks at the youth. Mountain Dew is not at all harmful for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers," he said.

No government agency, including the health ministry and the Bureau of Indian Standards, ever raised doubts over the safety of Mountain Dew, Seth said.

Had the drink been hazardous to health, one of the government bodies would have pointed it out, he said.

Even by Australian standards, which were the most stringent in the world as far as caffeine content in softdrinks was concerned, Mountain Dew was "totally safe", he added.

In Australia, a drink like Mountain Dew should not have more than 145 parts per million caffeine content. Caffeine content in Mountain Dew was much below that level, he said.