Benzene in soft drinks been filed by a group of parents in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The two companies, Zone Brands Inc., maker of "BellyWashers" products, and TalkingRain Beverage Co., denied that their products were harmful, but agreed to change the ingredients in their drinks. Coca-Cola announced that it would be phasing out sodium benzoate from many of its drinks, but not Fanta and Sprite. As of August 2012, Coca Cola Zero and Barq's root beer still contains benzoate (added as potassium salt and sodium salt respectively). A Belgian study found that plastic packaging may play an important role in
Asahi Soft Drinks The Hokuriku manufacturing plant was opened in March 1994. Three subsidiaries (Asahi Beer Soft Drinks, Asahi Beer Soft Drinks Manufacturing, and Hokuriku Asahi Beer Soft Drinks Manufacturing) merged in July 1996 to form Asahi Soft Drinks in order better focus development, manufacturing and marketing efforts. J.O. Coffee was changed to Wonda Coffee in September 1997, and Tiger Woods began appearing in commercials using the tag line, "Wonderful Wonda." Asahi Soft Drinks was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in August 1999. Asahi Umacha began sales on 2001-03-12 with a commercial by Studio Ghibli, the anime studio responsible for "Princess Mononoke".