Coke Classic ‘should cut sugar rather than pack sizes’

Coca-Cola must go further than just reducing pack sizes if it is to help Brits cut back on sugar, health campaigners insisted this week.

Their calls came after The Guardian reported Coke plans to shrink the size of its largest Classic bottle and increase the price ahead of April’s soft drinks levy. The tax will see suppliers pay 24p per litre on drinks containing 8g or more sugar per 100ml.

The brand will shrink the 1.75cl bottles of its full sugar variant by 14% to 1.5l, while the price will rise by 11% (20p) to £1.99, according to The Guardian, and the 500ml bottle will increase in price from £1.09 to £1.25.

Coca-Cola European Partners would not confirm or deny the changes, but said it was holding “ongoing discussions with customers about the impact of the soft drinks tax”, which included “reviewing the pack sizes offered to consumers and our approach to price-marked packs”.

It confirmed it had “no plans to change the recipe of Coca-Cola Classic”.

While smaller packs would be welcomed, Coke should commit to reducing sugar in Classic, said Jenny Rosborough, Action on Sugar campaign manager. “We encourage the company to reformulate. In years to come, its product is going to seem unbearably sweet.”

Ben Reynolds, deputy chief executive at Sustain, said CCEP was “sticking its fingers in its ears” by ignoring calls to cut sugar in its core soda.  

Rival PepsiCo declined to comment on whether it would reformulate its full sugar variant, but reiterated plans to pass on the cost of the sugar levy.

Diet Coke revamped

In the US, Coca-Cola has overhauled its Diet Coke lineup for North American shoppers.

The company yesterday unveiled a ‘skinny’ can and a quartet of new flavours: Ginger Lime, Twisted Mango, Zesty Blood Orange, and Feisty Cherry. Set to replace existing variants such as Cherry, they join the core Diet Coke in a five-strong range.

The new-look drinks – to roll out from mid-January across North America – were the result of two years’ development “fuelled by consumer research pointing to younger Americans’ affinity for big, yet refreshing and great-tasting, flavours in their favourite foods and beverages” Coca-Cola said.

Diet Coke, which made its debut in 1982, had not been reformulated, said the soft drinks giant, adding there were currently no plans to bring the revamped soda to the UK.