By Mike Esterl
PepsiCo Inc. said Friday it will remove aspartame from Diet
Pepsi in the U.S. and replace it with sucralose, another artificial
sweetener, in a bid to reverse plunging sales.
The beverage company said it is making the move in response to
consumer surveys showing the presence of aspartame to be the No. 1
reason that Americans are scaling back on diet colas.
U.S. consumers are backing away from artificial sweeteners amid
health concerns, even though the Food and Drug Administration say
such sweeteners are completely safe. Aspartame has proved
particularly unpopular with consumers of late.
PepsiCo said it continues to stand behind the safety of
aspartame and will keep using it outside the U.S. But it said it
would start shipping Diet Pepsi without aspartame to U.S. stores in
August.
Diet Pepsi sales fell 5.2% by volume in the U.S. last year,
according to industry tracker Beverage Digest.
Coca-Cola Co.'s U.S. diet soda sales also have fallen sharply
the last two years. U.S. volumes of Diet Coke, the country's
leading diet soda by sales, fell 6.6% last year, according to
Beverage Digest.
Coke Chief Executive Muhtar Kent didn't say in an interview with
CNBC on Friday morning whether the company would also consider
removing aspartame from Diet Coke.
"I'm not here to defend aspartame," Mr. Kent said during the
interview, when asked about PepsiCo's move.
But he added that the European Food Safety Authority recently
came out with a report saying aspartame is one of the most
"researched ingredients in the world and safe."
Tripp Mickle contributed
Write to Mike Esterl at mike.esterl@wsj.com
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