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.
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.
PepsiCo
Diet Pepsi sales fell 5.2% by volume in the U.S. last year,
according to industry tracker Beverage Digest.
Write to Mike Esterl at mike.esterl@wsj.com
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