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COCA COLA WILL SELL PRODUCTS WITH NO APPROVED SWEETENER !!

 
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 573578
Mexico
12/16/2008 11:27 AM
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COCA COLA WILL SELL PRODUCTS WITH NO APPROVED SWEETENER !!
Coke to sell drinks with stevia; Pepsi holds off
Mon Dec 15, 3:06 pm ET

NEW YORK – Coca-Cola Co. will begin selling products made with a new zero-calorie sweetener despite no official nod from the government, but rival PepsiCo Inc. said Monday it won't follow suit.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to determine that sweetener made from the herb stevia is "generally regarded as safe," but the agency's sign-off has taken longer than expected.

Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo has two drinks made with stevia ready for market: a version of SoBe Life Water and Top 50, an orange juice product. But Chief Executive Indra Nooyi said PepsiCo won't begin selling the drinks until the FDA makes its official decision.

Meanwhile, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola is expected this week to begin selling three flavors of an Odwalla juice drink sweetened with stevia, The Wall Street Journal reports. A spokesman for Coca-Cola declined to comment.

Nooyi said sweeteners like those made with stevia are key in reversing the sales decline of carbonated soft drinks, or CSDs. Morgan Stanley analyst Bill Pecoriello has estimated soda sales will fall 6 percent in 2009.

"If we got back to flat on CSDs, oh my God, it's heaven," Nooyi told reporters at a Beverage Digest conference. She added that it would be possible if drink makers could find the right sweetener to meet consumer standards for taste and health.

Two versions of a stevia-based beverage sweetener have been developed by Coke and Pepsi. Both Pepsi's PureVia and Coke's Truvia, marketed by Cargill, are made from rebiana, a stevia-based extract.

"I think with PureVia, other Reb-A (rebiana) products, I think there's hope," Nooyi said. "If it continues like this, I think there's hope the category will get new life." Nooyi declined to say what other sweeteners PepsiCo researchers were pursuing.

As recently as August 2007, the FDA had questioned the safety of stevia.

"In fact, literature reports have raised safety concerns about the use of stevia, including concerns about control of blood sugar, and effects on the reproductive, cardiovascular and renal systems," the FDA wrote in a letter to Hain Celestial about its Zingers To Go Tangerine Orange Wave Herb Tea. The tea's ingredients included stevia.

But manufacturers have become more confident that the FDA won't oppose their use of stevia sweeteners, with trade publication Beverage Digest having even predicted that the sweetener would be approved last month.

A recent Morgan Stanley survey of consumers showed that 22 percent of 18- to 65-year-olds were extremely interested in stevia and 36 percent were somewhat interested. The fact that stevia is currently mostly available through health food stores may increase its positive perception among consumers who turn down drinks made with aspartame, saccharine or sucralose.

Also speaking at the Beverage Digest conference Monday, Morgan Stanley's Pecoriello asked if stevia is "the holy grail" in soft drink makers' quest for a natural sweetener that could replace high-fructose corn syrup, which has gotten the cold shoulder from health-conscious consumers and child nutrition advocates.

"A no-calorie, all-natural sweetener is a huge opportunity for the beverage industry," Pecoriello said.

But he doesn't know if current stevia-based sweeteners will hit a home run with consumers' taste buds.

"Taste is key and we believe rebiana still has too strong a flavor to be used across soft drink categories," he Pecoriello said, asserting that rebiana sweeteners in their current forms are better for flavored water and juice but too sweet for soda. "At this point, we do not believe that the rebiana products are going to drive meaningful industry growth," he added.

Meanwhile, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. Chief Executive Larry Young said his company is looking at stevia very closely.

"We're looking at what brands it would make the most sense in," he said.

In afternoon trading, Coke shares edged up 31 cents to $44.88, while PepsiCo shares rose 17 cents to $52.20. Hain Celestial shares dipped 55 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $16.73, and Dr Pepper Snapple climbed 25 cents to $15.80. All of the companies' shares are trading well off their 52-week highs, battered by recent market turmoil and a tough consumer spending environment.
dude in florida

User ID: 522554
United States
12/16/2008 11:28 AM
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Re: COCA COLA WILL SELL PRODUCTS WITH NO APPROVED SWEETENER !!
stevia is fuckin great. this is a good move by coke. fuck the fdgay!!
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 573130
United States
12/16/2008 11:32 AM
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Re: COCA COLA WILL SELL PRODUCTS WITH NO APPROVED SWEETENER !!
YES!!!! NO MORE ASPARTAME!!!
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 501151
United States
12/16/2008 11:33 AM
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Re: COCA COLA WILL SELL PRODUCTS WITH NO APPROVED SWEETENER !!
Awesome!!

Who needs the FDA's blessing anyway. I don't believe they look our for our best interests all of the time. Maybe not most of the time. And they get it wrong quite often.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 548468
United States
12/16/2008 11:37 AM
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Re: COCA COLA WILL SELL PRODUCTS WITH NO APPROVED SWEETENER !!
I don't drink much soda, but when I do, it is always Coke, not diet. Mexican manufactured coke is the best, it is sweetened with sugar not corn syrup, just like the stuff they used to make here in the States years ago.

I used to think that Coke in the bottle tasted better then plastic till I realized that the it wasn't the bottle, but the sweetener used. I can find the Mexican coke around town, it comes in little bottles too! Who needs 20 oz. of soda?
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 532556
United States
12/16/2008 11:40 AM
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Re: COCA COLA WILL SELL PRODUCTS WITH NO APPROVED SWEETENER !!
I don't drink much soda, but when I do, it is always Coke, not diet. Mexican manufactured coke is the best, it is sweetened with sugar not corn syrup, just like the stuff they used to make here in the States years ago.

I used to think that Coke in the bottle tasted better then plastic till I realized that the it wasn't the bottle, but the sweetener used. I can find the Mexican coke around town, it comes in little bottles too! Who needs 20 oz. of soda?
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 548468



A little heads up, if you get Coke that is kosher, it will be made with sugar, and tastes completely different, and much better. You have to look for a little "K" with a circle around it i think, and the word "Pareve".
mussen

User ID: 383866
Canada
12/16/2008 11:43 AM
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Re: COCA COLA WILL SELL PRODUCTS WITH NO APPROVED SWEETENER !!
Yes stevia is fabulous. Hopefully whatever the soda companies have done to it will be fabulous too...
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 403351
United States
12/16/2008 11:47 AM
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Re: COCA COLA WILL SELL PRODUCTS WITH NO APPROVED SWEETENER !!
Try to insure that the drinks have no sodium benzoate.

Supposely Coke was discussing removing this from their sodas!

Stevia is a win-win solution the the obesity problem in humans, particularly in young adults.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 573590
United States
12/16/2008 11:55 AM
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Re: COCA COLA WILL SELL PRODUCTS WITH NO APPROVED SWEETENER !!
A little heads up, if you get Coke that is kosher, it will be made with sugar, and tastes completely different, and much better. You have to look for a little "K" with a circle around it i think, and the word "Pareve".
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 532556


Thank you for that. Last time I went to the store, I looked at the labels on Coke and found High Fructose Corn Syrup as the sweetener. Put the bottle back! I had thought to find just plain ol'sugar on the label. Never thought to look for the "K' mark.
.





GLP