New York: PepsiCo has said that it is putting aspartame back into some diet beverages in the United States, just a year after pulling the artificial sweetener from its products over consumer concerns about safety. Ten months ago the company had announced that it would stop using the artificial sweetener in Diet Pepsi due to consumer safety concerns. it has now announced that it will bring aspartame back with the launch of Diet Pepsi Classic Sweetener Blend which will hit store shelves in September in “retro light blue packaging.”
“For those consumers who love Diet Pepsi with aspartame, we have been exploring ways to make it available,” the company said in a statement. “Consumers want choice in diet colas, so we’re refreshing our US lineup to provide three options that meet differing needs and taste preferences,” a PepsiCo spokeswoman, Gina Anderson, said in an email to AFP. The move comes as PepsiCo struggles with fizzling diet-cola sales.
Diet Pepsi’s sales volume fell 5.8 per cent in 2015 and dropped roughly 11 per cent at retail during the first quarter of 2016, according to data from Beverage Digest cited by Bloomberg News. The US beverages and snacks giant said in April 2015 it would replace aspartame-sweetened Diet Pepsi with versions sweetened with a blend of sucralose, commonly known as Splenda, and acesulfame potassium in August.
At the time, PepsiCo said that consumers wanted aspartame-free drinks. The trend came amid studies that linked aspartame to cancer. But now American consumers appeared willing to mix up their artificial sweeteners, according to the company. Pepsi also said it will rebrand Pepsi Max, a zero-calorie drink sweetened with aspartame that comes in a black can, as Pepsi Zero Sugar in the U.S. — but the recipe will not change. Aspartame and sucralose are approved for human consumption by the US Food and Drug Administration.
