Coca-Cola recalling 570,000 bottles

The Coca-Cola group of companies in Japan said Monday they are recalling a total of 570,000 bottles of six types of soft drinks because they contain iron powder.

The beverages were manufactured between March 26 and 30 at one of the group's factories in Shiga Prefecture. They were sold in 13 prefectures mainly in central and western Japan.

The group said that drinking the products poses no health threat.

The six products are Aquarius in 2-liter bottles, Qoo Tottemo Orange in 500-ml bottles, and Coca-Cola, Diet Coca-Cola, Fanta Orange and Fanta Grape in 1.5-liter bottles.

The group learned of the contamination April 27 after a customer complained that one of the drinks had "a substance which looks like black powder."

An internal probe found that a minute amount of iron powder got into the products after measuring equipment on the production line malfunctioned.