The makers of Pepsi have pledged to keep most of their soft-drink servings in the near future at 100 calories per serving or less, NPR’s The Salt blog said on Monday.
“Pepsi says that by the year 2025 at least two-thirds of the drinks in its global beverage portfolio are expected to contain 100 calories or fewer from added sugar per 12-ounce serving,” reported The Salt. “Currently a 12-ounce can of Pepsi has 150 calories, all of which come from sugar.”
The move comes days after the World Health Organization prescribed countries around the world consider slapping levies of around 20 percent sugary drinks and as voters prepare to decide the fate of proposed sin taxes on sugary drinks at the polls in a handful of American cities this Nov. 8.
Philadelphia’s city council instituted such a tax in June, to be levied at 1.5 cents per ounce.
The American Beverage Association, a trade group which represents companies like PepsiCo, quickly took the City of Brotherly Love to court over the tax, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2017.
It’s not just in the U.S. where soda makers face political headwinds. Mexico has had a nearly 10 percent tax on soda in effect since 2014. Of course, in May, the Wall Street Journal reported soda use was actually up south of the border, despite the additional cost. The United Kingdom could well be the next country to slap a similar tax on soda, the Conservative government having announced its intention to pass legislation to that effect in March of this year.
Sin tax or no, however, for years now industry watchers have remarked on how consumers are largely abandoning soda for other drink alternatives, leaving companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola adapting to the market by diversifying into water and tea.
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.