PepsiCo made a statement on Friday that it will no longer have aspartame in its Diet Pepsi products. The company plans to 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 as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. consumers are backing away from artificial sweeteners amid health concerns, even though the Food and Drug Administration says 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.
Read the rest of the story at The Wall Street Journal.
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