Innocent Drinks In 2007 McDonald's began a five-year trial of using Innocent smoothies as part of their Happy Meals. Feedback from customers led McDonald's to drop the product in 2012. However, in 2015, the Chiquita Smoothie was replaced by two varieties of Innocent smoothies in the Netherlands. Revenue for the company declined in 2008 as a result of the global financial crisis which led to an overall loss of £8.6m. On 6 April 2009, Innocent Drinks announced on its website an agreement to sell a stake of 10-20% to The Coca-Cola Company for £30 million, with the three founders continuing to retain
Benzene in soft drinks initially approached FDA with concerns about benzene formation in soft drinks. Following testing, FDA asked manufacturers to voluntarily reformulate. By 1993, FDA determined that most drinks had little benzene contamination. In 1993, research showed how benzene can form from benzoic acid in the presence of vitamin C. In the summer of 1998, a number of well known soft drinks manufacturers had to withdraw large quantities of their products from sale after benzene contamination in some production plants was discovered. In November 2005, the FDA received test results conducted by private citizens that benzene was forming at low levels in several