Pepsi and Coca-Cola boost nutritional labeling
for carbonated drinks manufacturers. Last week, Coca-Cola and
PepsiCo decided the time was right to comply with FDA
recommendations and explain the nutrition in a bottle of their
respective sodas.
From the end of this year Coca-Cola North America and Pepsi-Cola will start rolling out 20 ounce bottles with more detailed nutritional labeling.
The modified packaging labels will provide expanded nutritional information -including calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates, sugars and protein - to help consumers choose the beverages that are right for them, according to the company.
At present the bottles only show information for eight ounces and indicate the total number of servings per package. The FDA has recommended that all food and drink manufacturers revise their labeling for products that can be consumed at one time.
The companies said the new packaging will be found on shelves across the US as soon as bottlers use up existing inventories of old style labels.
Partly due to concerns about calorie content, sales of sugary, fizzy drinks have been on the decline in per capita consumption since a peak in 1998.
Meanwhile, comparatively smaller categories such as water, energy drinks and juice-based drinks have been growing. Some attribute this growth to the health benefits consumers believe they reap from such products.
In May - no doubt with this in mind - Coca-Cola and Pepsi launched low-calorie and low-carb versions of their well-known brands in the form of C2 and Pepsi Edge.
In the past two years, moreover, three out of four of Coca-Cola's new cola products have been 'diet' drinks - Diet Vanilla Coke, Diet Coke with Lemon and most recently, Diet Coke with Lime.
However, despite these innovations, Coca-Cola took the unusual step last month of indicating that its second half results for 2004 - due to be issued on Thursday - will be below expectations, with third quarter 2004 worldwide unit case volume growth expected to be in the range of flat to one percent.
Pepsi's drinks division (Pepsico Beverages North America) also saw a total volume decline of one percent for the third quarter of 2004 and the volume of carbonated soft drinks declined by 4 percent.
"Revenue growth of three percent for the third quarter is driven largely by the continued favorable mix shift to non-carbs," said the company in a statement, noting that on a year-to-date basis, PBNA volume was up 3 percent, with carbonated soft drinks flat and non-carbs up over 10 percent.
