Enlisted Man Gets Sick After Drinking Coke : Marines Retreat From Sale of Soft Drink

The brief hospitalization Wednesday of a Marine after he drank a quarter of a can of Coca-Cola Classic at Camp Pendleton prompted the soft drink firm to take the remaining contents of the can for testing and the Marine Corps to withdraw all other cans from sale at the base.

Lance Cpl. Jose Acosta, 24, was treated for vomiting Wednesday morning at the Camp Pendleton hospital after drinking a quarter of a can of Classic Coke from a vending machine near his barracks, Gunnery Sgt. Larry Crutchfield said. Acosta was released from the hospital within three hours, after doctors concluded that he had simply been made sick by something he had ingested.

David DePinto, director of public affairs for Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles, said part of the remaining contents of the can and the contents of other cans with the same lot number will be tested at company headquarters in Atlanta within 24 hours. Some will also be tested at the Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco, Crutchfield said.

Meanwhile, Marine Corps officers ordered the removal of all other cans of Classic Coke from the more than 380 vending machines, two commissaries and numerous exchange outlets on the base. Crutchfield said they will be held until investigators have determined whether the Coke made Acosta sick and whether only the one can or others were bad.

“It was done as a precaution for the Marines and it reflects in no way on Coke or its product,” Crutchfield said. “We found something that may have been wrong with one can, and the boss said, ‘Hey, we have to protect our people in our community.’ So we pulled it off the shelf.”

Crutchfield and DePinto said there have been no other reports of people feeling sick after drinking Coca-Cola Classic on the base or in the San Diego area. Crutchfield confirmed that authorities initially speculated that there may have been some solvent on or in the can; DePinto would not comment on those reports.

Crutchfield said officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are also investigating the incident. Gordon Scott, consumer affairs officer for the agency in Los Angeles, said he could not confirm that the agency was investigating but said its normal role in such an incident would be to try to determine whether there was “manufacturer error or tampering.”