Pepsi-Cola International will open fast food shops in Bangladesh next year, said its Asia Division president Leslie O. Ham.

In an interview with The Daily Star recently. Ham said that his company, besides being one of the largest soft drink bottlers in the world, was also a big snack food producer havingsome 20,000 fast

food restaurants across the world.

"We are planning to move our restaurant business to South Asia because of the growing demand in this re gion.' he said.

However, he pointed out that, in Bangladesh, the snack shops Would be opened on a trial basis to test if the entrepreneurs could cope with the high quality standards set by the fast food giants like McDonalds or the Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Ham observed there was tremendous "bottlers’- intercsf in Bangladesh as demand and consumption of the soft drinks have gone up significantly.

Responding to a query, he assured that there was no qualitative difference between the Pepsi produced in Bangladesh and those produced elsewhere.

"The basic concentrates of Pepsi products anywhere in the world are always the same and the quality is strictly maintained. But the difference in taste is because of the use of different kinds of sugar and water," he said.

Speaking on the press reports on discovering alien objects often found in sealed Pepsi bottles, the Pepsi chief in Asia said that one could not possibly put something in the bottles because of the speed in bottling.

Hundreds of bottles were mechanically filled in minutes, he pointed out. "No system is full proof ... but Pepsi’s prime objective is to satisfy the clients with our quality prod-ucts," he said.

Ham mentioned about some recent incidents of discovering hypodermic syringes In Pepsi bottles tn the USA and said the people Involved were arrested while .putting those in the shops.

"I guess, these people do it for easy bucks," he com mented.

When asked if his company was going to introduce diet Pepsi in Bangladesh. Ham said "we have future plans. But it will lake some time."