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Sales of diet Pepsi have plunged after the soft drink company behind it changed the recipe. In a case with echoes of Coke’s disastrous introduction of ‘New Coke’, Pepsi has faced a huge backlash after replacing the sweetener in the drink. Pepsi chose to remove the controversial sweetener aspartame - linked to cancer in some studies - with sucralose. But customers aren’t happy. David Zimdars of Michigan said, ‘It has a nasty aftertaste, and it’s sickly sweet. You have to wash it out with water.' Pepsi’s choice of sucralose - known by the brand name Splenda - has been blasted...

The ’80s classic Back to the Future Part II isn’t just one of the greatest sequels of all time. It was also a visual feast for the eyes that gave us an (exciting) peek at what 2015 MIGHT look like. But the movie also left us wanting a few things that we hoped would be available by 2015, like Marty’s bad-ass Nike self-lacing sneakers… …the iconic AF hoverboard… …and of course, the oh-so-cool looking Pepsi Perfect bottle. Well, Pepsi finally delivered and created Pepsi Perfect!!! According to USA Today, the limited-edition Pepsi Perfect (which is Pepsi made with REAL sugar)...

A pro-life group that monitors the use of cells from babies victimized by abortions is today highlighting a biotech company, Senomyx, which it says produces artificial flavor enhancers using aborted fetal cell lines to test their products. The group Children of God for Life is calling for a public boycott of major food companies partnering with Senomyx. Debi Vinnedge, the director of the pro-life organization, tells LifeNews.com today that, in 2010, her group wrote to Senomyx CEO Kent Snyder and pointed out that moral options for testing their food additives could and should be used. But when Senomyx ignored her...

I have received a few requests from pro-lifers like Vicki:Can you provide some clarity to the Pepsi/cells from aborted babies controversy.  I cannot sort out whether this is valid or not. Yes and NoBottom line: There are no aborted embryonic or fetal cells in any of PepsiCo’s final products.But: Aborted cells are used in the development of artificial flavor enhancers by biotech company Senomyx, with which PepsiCo signed a four-year, $30 million agreement in 2010 for research and development. No Pepsi products containing Senonymx flavor enhancers should be expected until 2013.Senomyx’s disputed cell line is HEK-293, derived from the kidney...

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.

NEW YORK (AP) — PepsiCo says it's dropping aspartame from Diet Pepsi in response to customer feedback and replacing it with sucralose, another artificial sweetener commonly known as Splenda. The decision to swap sweeteners comes as Americans keep turning away from popular diet sodas. Competitor Coca-Cola said this week that sales volume for Diet Coke, which also uses aspartame, fell 5 percent in North America in the first three months of the year. Executives at Coke and Pepsi blame the declines on perceptions that aspartame isn't safe. That's even though the Food and Drug Administration says aspartame, best known by...

Obama lackey John Podesta who founded the far left Center for American Progress is about as transparent as Obama. The Center of American Progress has been hiding it’s donor lists for month. Finally, today they were shamed into releasing a partial list of donors. Problem is Podesta’s Center for American Progress isn’t accounting for over $5 million in donations from ‘anonymous sources.’ Podesta will likely be a big part of Hillary Clinton’s run next year, if the old granny does in fact run. Wonder if she’ll get questions about her buddy Podesta’s missing $5 million. Funny too that you don’t...

I'm not one for boycotts, but I am one for data. And I like this kind of data. It's just good to have data when spending money. That's all. I mean, if I have no choice in keeping a SIGNIFICANTLY large portion of my money from being squandered by the folks that I've freaking employed up on the Hill (like drunk girls on Spring break with their Daddy's credit cards), I'm going to be as informed as possible with what's left of said money. Thus, the data thing. You know. According to the source article above and the New York...

The nation's largest soda marketers -- which have been feeling the heat from health advocates -- on Tuesday pledged to reduce beverage calories consumed per person nationally by 20% by 2025. Executives from PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Co. and Dr Pepper Snapple group announced the goal in New York City at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.

The world's largest beverage-maker, Coca-Cola, plans to remove a controversial ingredient from some of its US drinks brands by the end of this year, following an online petition.Brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, is found in Coca-Cola fruit and sports drinks such as Fanta and Powerade.Rival Pepsi removed the chemical from its Gatorade sports drink last year.In Japan and the European Union, the use of BVO as a food additive is not allowed.Pepsi has a plan to remove the ingredient from its entire product portfolio.It uses BVO in its Mountain Dew and Amp Energy drinks sold in the US.BVO has been...

Dear Mr. Farago, Thank you for sharing your concern stemming from our participation in last summer’s Aspen Ideas Festival.

If you haven’t heard of the Aspen meeting, it’s one of those gatherings of the high and mighty around the world, UN heavyweights and Hollywood nitwits and politicians with big government causes, like Giffords. Here’s the text from that screenshot:

It was only last week here in Panama that I was talking to a Pepsi truck driver from Philadelphia. They'll be coming for you sugar guys next, I said. It's already started, he retorted. In Philadelphia recently, the union bussed the drivers down to City Hall to protest a tax on sugar. Now we read that the trial lawyers are going for a repeat on the Big Tobacco shakedown of the 1990s. They want the state attorneys general to sue Big Food to "pay for soaring obesity-related health care costs." And why not? Back in the 1990s, Big Law got...

The TTAG tipster who alerted us to PepsiCo’s financial support of Gabrielle Giffords’ 2013 civilian disarmament gabfest entered “pepsico” into the search bar at aspenideas.org. (Fiendishly clever, eh?) Up popped Brad Jakeman, President, Global Beverage Group, PepsiCo, Inc., right below none other than Gabrielle Giffords, the doyenne of disarmament. Being the seasoned journalist I am I Googled Mr. Jakeman’s name and the festival and found the YouTubery above. According to Mr. Jakeman’s full official bio the Aussie was the marketing maven behind Activision’s gun-intensive Call of Duty video game (“There’s a soldier in all of us”). Here he is below...

The Center for American Progress is a left-wing organization that is closely associated with the Obama administration. Its principal product is a web site called Think Progress. Think Progress is part of the internet cesspool that modern liberalism has become. Written by hack left-wing bloggers, it is bitterly hostile to free enterprise. It is a low-rent site that traffics in the most absurd smears and conspiracy theories. Many have wondered for some years who finances far-left web sites like Think Progress. As of today, we know at least part of the answer, as CAP released its corporate donor list for...

MADISON — Wash this political trip down with a little irony. When first lady Michelle Obama pays a call on Watertown on Thursday afternoon to urge Americans to choose water over soda, she’ll be making her latest health pitch in a southern Wisconsin community that earns its living, at least in part, on the sweat of soda bottlers. The corporate office of Wis-Pak Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of Pepsi-Cola and other leading soft drinks, is located in Watertown. Wis-Pak, with production facilities and warehouses throughout the central U.S., is the community’s 10th largest employer, according to the Watertown Area...

In a nutshell The Legislature has introduced a number of abortion-related bills this session, but the one that has drawn the most ire from the business community is a measure seeking to ban the sale and use of aborted fetal tissue. The bill, introduced by Rep. Andre Jacque, R-DePere, and co-sponsored by 29 other Republican representatives and five Republican senators, would make it illegal to experiment on a fetal body part. A fetal body part is defined as “a cell, tissue, organ, or other part of, or any material derived from any cell or tissue of, an unborn child who...

Pepsi Japan launched a new line of soda on Tuesday that it claims blocks the body's absorption of fat. Pepsi Special is infused with indigestible dextrin, a synthetic dietary fiber. Even though dextrin has not been proven to have dietary benefits for humans, it has been successfully tested on rats. Which, apparently, is good enough for Pepsi and the Japanese government, which has formally backed the soda manufacturer's claims. The Japanese Ministry of Health says products carrying its FOSHU label are "intended to be consumed for the maintenance/promotion of health or special health uses by people who wish to control...

Pepsi seeks lead in the cola wars with new ‘fat-blocking’ sodaBy: Danielle Tworek November 12, 2012 In the endless battle to shake their growing reputation as a key trigger point in America’s obesity epidemic, the major soda manufacturer, Pepsi, has a new invention for the soda market: Pepsi Special, the “fat-blocking” cola. On November 13, consumers in Japan will believe they can say yes to the fries and even add a little bacon on that burger as they head through the drive-thru, as long as they include a large Pepsi Special with their meal deal. At least that’s the concept...

(Reuters) - The New York State Attorney General issued subpoenas in July to three firms that make energy drinks, including PepsiCo Inc, seeking information on the companies' marketing and advertising practices, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Besides Pepsi, maker of AMP, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman also sent subpoenas to Monster Beverage Corp and Living Essentials LLC, maker of the 5-Hour Energy drink, said the source, who declined to be identified, citing lack of authorization to speak to the media. A spokeswoman for Schneiderman declined to comment, as did PepsiCo. Living Essentials also declined to comment beyond...