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
Benzene in soft drinks types of beverages. In December 2005, Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment ("Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung") published a review of benzene's possible formation in foods and drinks. In February 2006, an unnamed former chemist at the FDA publicly revealed that benzene may be created as part of a chemical reaction during production of soft drinks, particularly those having an orange flavor. Full-scale investigations immediately started at the Food Standards Agency (UK) and in Germany to reveal exactly which amounts of benzene, if any, were present, with several other organizations awaiting their findings. The United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency released results on