Recently the news has been discussing Pepsi's additive 4-methylimidizole in the caramel colouring of their popular drinks, with the fact that the Centre for Environmental Health has deemed it unsafe. Now should you go into your fridge right now and toss all of your Pepsi into the garbage? No. Although a study that was performed in 2007 gave results showing that 4-methylimidizole has carcinogenic properties in mice and rats, keep in mind that this is at an extremely high dose (115mg/kg of body weight) and the dosage that a normal consumer will receive showed no effects.
So why is this molecule in Pepsi in the first place? It comes with the additive caramel colour, which is produced by a separate manufacturer and is listed as Caramel Colour on the ingredients list. This molecule is made as a product of the Maillard Reaction, the browning of food, and in this case being the reaction to produce the caramel colour. But the problem with their method in producing the caramel colour is that they use a method with a higher concentration of ammonia, which incidentally ends up producing more 4-methylimidizole than other methods. Since this has come out, the US caramel colour manufacturers have changed their recipe to adhere to the people's reaction, lowering the overall concentration of 4-methylimidizole. This has yet to change the formulation in other parts of the world though.
It is quite sad to know that big brands like Pepsi do such things while companies like Tatvachintan are spending many dollars behind green chemistry. This is not the first time a big brand comes into breaking the rules. Sigh.
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