Free Republic

May 23 (Reuters) - The Venezuelan bottler of Coca-Cola has halted production of sugar-sweetened beverage due to a lack of sugar, a Coca-Cola Co spokeswoman said on Monday. Venezuela is in the midst of a deep recession, and spontaneous demonstrations and looting have become more common amid worsening food shortages, frequent power cuts and the world's highest inflation.

A McDonald’s customer has been charged with robbery after he emptied a cup of water and filled it up with soda from a machine in a restaurant in Arkansas. Cody Morris, 18, and two pals went to a drive-thru in Springdale and and asked for large cups of water. But they then parked their car and dumped their cups before filling them up with soda. [snip] But Morris reversed his car and drove off, allegedly hitting the manager as he made his getaway. Police arrested Morris at a nearby bowling alley. It is unclear if he will face any charges...

Have other Freepers noticed a change in the taste of diet Mountain Dew? Yesterday, I bought some at my local 7-11 and noticed the change. It was so bad that I poured it out on the grass. I went to another 7-11 and bought a new diet Mountain Dew. This one was OK. This morning I opened a bottle that I bought at our local supermarket and again that same terrible bubblegum taste! Yuck! So?...Does anyone have news on whether or not the formula has changed? If it has, then I am done with Mountain Dew. It is now too...

LARGO, Florida, July 15, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A biomedical firm that uses fetal cell lines in flavor technology has removed from its website the names of organizations that use their products, according to the pro-life group Children of God for Life (COGFL). Senomyx has been called out by the organization for using HEK-293 (human embryonic kidney) cells in the research and development of their artificial flavor enhancers, despite a pro-life consumer backlash. Among Senomyx’s partnering companies is PepsiCo, which has been targeted for boycott based on its use of the flavor technology. In a recent response to customer letters, PepsiCo...

San Francisco's new legislation requiring sodas to carry health warning labels is being challenged in court by the American Beverage Association. The ABA, joined by the California State Outdoor Advertising Association and California Retailers Association, filed a lawsuit against the city on Friday, arguing that the legislation, which also would ban sugary-drink ads on city property, is a First Amendment violation, reported SFGate. According to Convenience Store and Fuel News, the lawsuit in part alleges that the ban, "discriminates against speech based on the identity of the speaker, in violation of the First Amendment, by expressly prohibiting speech that includes...

MONTPELIER, VT -- All food and beverages sold through vending machines are now subject to Vermont's 9% meals and rooms tax, effective July 1. A 6% sales tax on sugary drinks is also in effect. The new levies are part of a tax package that lawmakers passed in May to raise a $30 million in new revenue. Lawmakers expect the sales tax on soft drinks to raise about $8 million a year, and applying the meals tax to vending machines to add about $1 million a year. Exempt from Vermont's sugary drink tax are products that contain milk, soy, rice...

Cyrstal Pepsi is poised to make a comeback, thanks in part to efforts by competitive eater Kevin Strahle --aka L.A. Beast. Strahle is part of a group of loyal consumers who have been appealing to Pepsi to bring back the iconic drink, which tasted like Pepsi but was clear. The caffeine-free drink was originally introduced in 1992 to respond to health concerns about coloring in soda, but only lasted a year. It was considered a failure because it was believed it didn’t taste good.

San Francisco officials are deciding whether to impose a warning on ads for a favorite drink of children and a bane of public health advocates: Sugary soda pop. The "Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Warning Ordinance" would require health warnings on advertising within city limits — on billboards, walls, the sides of cabs and buses. Supporters and opponents say San Francisco would be the first place in the country to require warnings on ads for soda, which is linked to rotting teeth and obesity.

You’ve decided to give up diet soda—good idea! Maybe you weren’t hitting your weight-loss goals or couldn’t stomach that long list of ingredients anymore. Or perhaps you heard one too many times that it’s just not good for you. Whatever the reason, eliminating diet soda from your diet will improve your health from head to toe. Research on diet soda is still in its infancy, but there’s enough out there to identify what you can look forward to when you put down the can and cool down with an unsweetened iced tea instead.

An update on this story. “Shuttle America Flight 3504,” United Airlines, June 3, 2015: While United did not operate the flight, Ms. Ahmad was our customer and we apologize to her for what occurred on the flight. After investigating this matter, United has ensured that the flight attendant, a Shuttle America employee, will no longer serve United customers.

Now that calorie counts on restaurant menus are a done deal, it's time to take the next step toward slimming America's flabby waistline.. A national soda tax. I know, I know: This is the kind of nanny-state talk that causes seizures among conservatives and libertarians. It's an intrusion on personal freedom, a trampling of consumer choice, blah-blah-blah. It's also, as we've learned from taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, a highly effective method of influencing behavior that carries high social costs.

Voters in Berkeley, Calif., have passed the nation’s first soda tax with a resounding 75 percent of the vote. The measure aims to reduce the effects of sugar consumption on health, especially increased rates of obesity and diabetes. It will levy a penny-per-ounce tax on most sugar-sweetened beverages and is estimated to raise more than $1 million per year. Proceeds will go to the general fund; Measure D calls for the creation of a health panel to advise Berkeley’s City Council on appropriate health programs to receive funding. Campaign Co-Chair Jack Daniels called Berkeley’s win a tipping point. “I think...

Berkeley, California, one of the most liberal cities in the nation, have overwhelmingly approved the nation's first 'sugar tax,' which will raise the cost of sodas and energy drinks by one penny per ounce. A similar tax in neighboring San Francisco, which would have levied two cents per ounce, failed to pass - gaining 55percent of the vote, short of the two-thirds majority needed. The Berkeley tax would raise the cost of a can of Pepsi from $1 to $1.12, but bigger fountain drinks would get hit harder. A large Coke from McDonald's would go from $2.29 to $2.61. A...

Proposition E, a 2 cent per ounce tax on the purchase of sugary beverages that was heavily opposed by the American Beverage Association, was defeated at the polls Tuesday when fewer than two-thirds of voters supported the proposal. The tax was proposed to combat health-related illnesses like obesity and diabetes. It drew the support of the majority of the Board of Supervisors, which voted to place it on the ballot, and a number of health organizations, such as the American Heart Association and the California Dental Association. The American Beverage Association, which represents the large soda companies, had raised $7.7...

Drink a 20-ounce soda daily, and you may be causing your cells to age as much as they would if you smoked, a study suggests. Researchers investigated DNA from 5,309 adults, focusing on telomeres, the caps on the ends of our cells' chromosomes, Time reports.

The progressive War on Soda may have failed in New York, despite the best efforts of the Deplorable Nanny State Mayor, but this is a multi-front battle which will clearly rage on for some time. As any good battle commander will tell you, when fighting an opponent with numerical superiority, it’s best to drag them into a skirmish on your home turf. In the effort to save people from their own ignorant, evil selves, the fight to make soda more expensive – and thereby modify public behavior through tax policy – has moved to Berkeley.

Libertarians were outraged by New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s “Big Gulp” ban (which a state court ultimately struck down). They slammed it as a “Nanny State” measure. But it was current Centers for Disease Control head Tom Frieden who was actually behind the ban.

Calling all ’90s kids: Surge is back. Coca-Cola unveiled the citrus-flavored soda in 1996 as an answer to Pepsi’s Mountain Dew. But SURGE couldn’t compete and was taken off shelves in 2001, to the dismay of what had become a cult-like following. Thousands of passionate fans have been fighting for its return for years, and today they tasted victory. This is just a test, said Coca Cola spokeswoman Sheree Robinson. “It has a big fan base, however, we’re not sure how that will translate into sales,” she said.

A new study by researchers at Stanford University is suggesting that making soda and other sugary drinks ineligible for purchase with SNAP funds could result in nearly a quarter million fewer diabetes cases in adults, and over 140,000 fewer obese children.

Healthy postmenopausal women who drink two or more diet drinks a day may be more likely to have a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problems.A study involving almost 60,000 healthy postmenopausal women correlated diet drinks with increased risk of heart attack, stroke or a cardiovascular event. "Our findings are in line with and extend data from previous studies showing an association between diet drinks and metabolic syndrome," lead investigator Dr. Ankur Vyas of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics said in a statement. "We were interested in this research because there was a relative lack of data about diet...