Coke Set to Unveil Natural Diet Drink

[Guest guest]

Hi,

 

Saw this in the Wall Street Journal this morning.

 

Gary

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122929850588005213.html?mg=com-wsj

 

(I think you need a wsj account to see the site above

so here is the article.)

* DECEMBER 15, 2008

Coke Set to Unveil Natural Diet Drink

 

By BETSY MCKAY

Coca-Cola Co. is expected to launch a drink in the U.S. this week containing a

natural, calorie-free sweetener, intensifying a race with PepsiCo Inc. to

dominate a new generation of noncarbonated beverages. Coke is

pushing ahead even though the Food and Drug Administration as of Sunday

hadn't issued a formal blessing of the ingredient.

Coke plans to market three flavors of a juice drink in its Odwalla

line that contain the sweetener, derived from the herb stevia,

according to people familiar with Coke's plans.

Pepsi has several drinks ready to go in the U.S. market with the

sweetener -- three flavors of a zero-calorie SoBe Lifewater and an

orange-juice drink called Trop50, containing half the calories and

sugar of OJ. But Pepsi is waiting for the FDA to clear the additive.

" We're ready to go the moment we get the green light, " Massimo d'Amore,

Pepsi's Americas beverage chief, told investors at a conference last

month. In August Pepsi began selling an enhanced water drink with the

sweetener in Peru, where stevia is approved.

Coke also aims to put the sweetener in a version of Glaceau

Vitaminwater early next year, according to Beverage Digest, an industry

newsletter. A Coke spokesman declined to comment on the company's

product-launch plans.

Stevia is approved for use in at least 12 countries and as a dietary

supplement in the U.S. But after some studies suggested adverse health

effects from stevia-based products, such as potential mutations in the

livers of rats, the FDA concluded in the early 1990s that data weren't

sufficient to allow its use as a food additive.

Coke, Pepsi and companies they are working with say their sweetener

-- called Truvia by Coke and PureVia by Pepsi -- is more highly

purified than the versions of stevia used in those tests, and that new

data have been submitted to the FDA. Cargill Inc., which teamed up with

Coke, and Whole Earth Sweetener Co., which is working with Pepsi, say

research they sponsored and submitted to the FDA in May found it to be

safe.

The FDA said it doesn't have a specific date for completion of the review.

The FDA's go-ahead -- in the form of a " no objection " letter --

isn't required under the voluntary notification program through which

the sweetener is being evaluated. But an official notice would help the

companies assure consumers and retailers -- and ensure that the

companies avoid the embarrassment of pulling a product off the market

if the FDA does indeed object.

Consumer advocates have criticized the FDA's voluntary program for

new ingredients as too industry-friendly. " Companies should not be

allowed to market a food ingredient before the FDA has reviewed the

data and concluded that it is safe, " said Michael Jacobson, executive

director of Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer

watchdog group.

Cargill, which spent six years developing the sweetener, defends the

FDA notification process as transparent because the company sought

comment from outside experts, including critics, and published research

findings in a scientific journal earlier this year. " We're confident in

the safety of the ingredient, " said Amy Boileau, Cargill's manager of

regulatory and scientific affairs. " If the agency had questions or

concerns, we would know. "

Underscoring its confidence ahead of the FDA's word, Cargill began

selling a tabletop version of the sweetener in the U.S. in July and is

launching an ad campaign Monday to build sales. The campaign, developed

by Ogilvy & Mather, focuses on the natural derivation of the

sweetener, with visuals of the stevia leaf.