After slump, Diet Pepsi dumps aspartame

  • Bloomberg News
  • Friday, April 24, 2015 12:45pm
  • Business

ATLANTA — PepsiCo will start selling Diet Pepsi without aspartame later this year, one of the biggest changes to the beverage in decades, after a consumer backlash against the artificial sweetener crushed sales.

The company will replace aspartame with a blend of sucralose and acesulfame potassium in Diet Pepsi, Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi and Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi sold in the U.S. beginning in August. The move follows a 5.2 percent decline in Diet Pepsi’s sales volume last year, according to Beverage-Digest. Sales of Coca-Cola’s Diet Coke, which also uses aspartame, dropped 6.6 percent.

PepsiCo is getting the jump on Diet Coke, the country’s No. 1 sugar-free soda, in removing the controversial sweetener. Consumers have been backing away from both brands in recent years, fearful that the lab-created sweetener may cause cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said there’s no proof of a health risk from aspartame.

“Decades of studies have shown that aspartame is safe, but the reality is that consumer demand in the U.S. has been evolving,” said Seth Kaufman, senior vice president of Pepsi and the company’s flavors drinks in North America. “The U.S. diet cola consumer has been asking and asking and asking for an aspartame-free great diet cola.”

Even so, Coca-Cola isn’t budging.

“There are currently no plans to change the sweetener for Diet Coke, America’s favorite no-calorie soft drink,” said Scott Williamson, a spokesman. “All of the beverages we offer and ingredients we use are safe.”

PepsiCo’s decision came after consumer complaints accelerated during the past two years — with feedback flowing in through call lines, social media and letters, Kaufman said. In surveys, aspartame was the top reason given by consumers for drinking less of the diet cola, he said.

“It’s been going on for some time, and the volume of it over the past two years has really been high,” Kaufman said.

PepsiCo doesn’t have plans to replace aspartame in Diet Mountain Dew, despite a 3 percent sales decline. That product is the Purchase, New York-based company’s best-selling diet beverage after Diet Pepsi.

There are no plans to remove aspartame from other PepsiCo soft drinks either, Kaufman said. The focus for the change is on colas with declining sales. With aspartame-sweetened Pepsi Max, for example, consumers didn’t cite the ingredient as one of the top 10 reasons they were drinking less of it, Kaufman said.

The FDA approved aspartame for use in some beverages and foods in 1981. Two years later, the ingredient was allowed in carbonated beverages. It was then ruled a “general-purpose sweetener” in 1996, giving it freer rein.

“Aspartame is one of the most exhaustively studied substances in the human food supply, with more than 100 studies supporting its safety,” the agency said. “FDA scientists have reviewed scientific data regarding the safety of aspartame in food and concluded that it is safe for the general population under certain conditions.”

People with a rare hereditary disease that makes it hard for them to metabolize aspartame’s phenylalanine are advised to limit its ingestion, the FDA warns. The agency requires labeling to inform people who are at risk.

Acesulfame potassium, meanwhile, was first approved for food in 1988 and is used in drinks such as Coke Zero, which also contains some aspartame. Sucralose, marketed as Splenda and used in a version of Diet Coke, was first approved in 1998. The FDA has deemed both sweeteners safe.

Coca-Cola, based in Atlanta, took a shot at the aspartame revolt in mid-2013 with print ads in national publications that defended its safety. Sales of Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi both declined almost 7 percent that year.

The crisis, which came on top of a consumer reaction against high-calorie sugar-sweetened drinks, has forced Coca- Cola and PepsiCo into the lab for solutions. Both have aggressively pursued a natural, noncaloric ingredient called stevia, which is extracted from a leaf and is 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar.

Stevia doesn’t work so well in colas, however. It gives off a metallic aftertaste when used in higher doses. So the soda makers are researching ways to ferment and bioengineer copies of a better-tasting stevia molecule found in the leaf.

As for aspartame, Kaufman declined to say how PepsiCo’s decision would affect Coca-Cola, saying only that “we’re excited that we’re the first scaled business to do it.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

A closing sign hangs above the entrance of the Big Lots at Evergreen and Madison on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Big Lots announces it will shutter Everett and Lynnwood stores

The Marysville store will remain open for now. The retailer reported declining sales in the first quarter of the year.

George Montemor poses for a photo in front of his office in Lynnwood, Washington on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.  (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Despite high mortgage rates, Snohomish County home market still competitive

Snohomish County homes priced from $550K to $850K are pulling in multiple offers and selling quickly.

Henry M. Jackson High School’s robotic team, Jack in the Bot, shake hands at the 2024 Indiana Robotics Invitational.(Henry M. Jackson High School)
Mill Creek robotics team — Jack in the Bot — wins big

Henry M. Jackson High School students took first place at the Indiana Robotic Invitational for the second year in a row.

The computer science and robotics and artificial intelligence department faculty includes (left to right) faculty department head Allison Obourn; Dean Carey Schroyer; Ishaani Priyadarshini; ROBAI department head Sirine Maalej and Charlene Lugli. PHOTO: Arutyun Sargsyan / Edmonds College.
Edmonds College to offer 2 new four-year degree programs

The college is accepting applications for bachelor programs in computer science as well as robotics and artificial intelligence.

FILE — Boeing 737 MAX8 airplanes on the assembly line at the Boeing plant in Renton, Wash., on March 27, 2019. Boeing said on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, that it was shaking up the leadership in its commercial airplanes unit after a harrowing incident last month during which a piece fell off a 737 Max 9 jet in flight. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times)
Federal judge rejects Boeing’s guilty plea related to 737 Max crashes

The plea agreement included a fine of up to $487 million and three years of probation.

Neetha Hsu practices a command with Marley, left, and Andie Holsten practices with Oshie, right, during a puppy training class at The Everett Zoom Room in Everett, Washington on Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Tricks of the trade: New Everett dog training gym is a people-pleaser

Everett Zoom Room offers training for puppies, dogs and their owners: “We don’t train dogs, we train the people who love them.”

Andy Bronson/ The Herald 

Everett mayor Ray Stephenson looks over the city on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2015 in Everett, Wa. Stephanson sees  Utah’s “housing first” model – dealing with homelessness first before tackling related issues – is one Everett and Snohomish County should adopt.

Local:issuesStephanson

Shot on: 1/5/16
Economic Alliance taps former Everett mayor as CEO

Ray Stephanson will serve as the interim leader of the Snohomish County group.

Molbak's Garden + Home in Woodinville, Washington will close on Jan. 28. (Photo courtesy of Molbak's)
After tumultuous year, Molbak’s is being demolished in Woodinville

The beloved garden store closed in January. And a fundraising initiative to revitalize the space fell short.

Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, Advanced Manufacturing Skills Center executive director Larry Cluphf, Boeing Director of manufacturing and safety Cameron Myers, Edmonds College President Amit Singh, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, July 2 celebrating the opening of a new fuselage training lab at Paine Field. Credit: Arutyun Sargsyan / Edmonds College
‘Magic happens’: Paine Field aerospace center dedicates new hands-on lab

Last month, Edmonds College officials cut the ribbon on a new training lab — a section of a 12-ton Boeing 767 tanker.

Gov. Jay Inslee presents CEO Fredrik Hellstrom with the Swedish flag during a grand opening ceremony for Sweden-based Echandia on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Swedish battery maker opens first U.S. facility in Marysville

Echandia’s marine battery systems power everything from tug boats to passenger and car ferries.

Helion Energy CEO and co-founder David Kirtley talks to Governor Jay Inslee about Trenta, Helion’s 6th fusion prototype, during a tour of their facility on Tuesday, July 9, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
State grants Everett-based Helion a fusion energy license

The permit allows Helion to use radioactive materials to operate the company’s fusion generator.

People walk past the new J.sweets storefront in Alderwood Mall on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Japanese-style sweets shop to open in Lynnwood

J. Sweets, offering traditional Japanese and western style treats opens, could open by early August at the Alderwood mall.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.