Pepsi "wants to be part of the solution"

Dom_m

From The Economist:
Read the whole article here: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15772138&fsrc=nlw|hig|03-25-2010|editors_highlights

Excerpts from the beginning and end:

COCA-COLA once famously defined its market as “throat share”, meaning its stake in the entire liquid intake of all humanity. Not to be outdone, Indra Nooyi, the boss of Coke’s arch-rival, PepsiCo, wants her firm to be “seen as one of the defining companies of the first half of the 21st century”, a “model of how to conduct business in the modern world.” More specifically, she argues that Pepsi, which makes crisps (potato chips) and other fatty, salty snacks as well as sugary drinks, should be part of the solution, not the cause, of “one of the world’s biggest public-health challenges, a challenge fundamentally linked to our industry: obesity.”

To that end, on March 22nd she unveiled a series of targets to improve the healthiness of Pepsi’s wares. By 2015 the firm aims to reduce the salt in some of its biggest brands by 25%; by 2020, it hopes to reduce the amount of added sugar in its drinks by 25% and the amount of saturated fat in certain snacks by 15%. Pepsi also recently announced that it would be removing all its sugary drinks from schools around the world by 2012.
....
....
Pepsi already claims to be making significant progress in making its “fun-for-you products better for you” by voluntarily removing trans fats long before it was required to do so, and reducing the amount of sugar, fat and salt. There is now less salt in a packet of crisps, claims Dr Khan, than in a slice of white bread.

Quaker, which makes porridge, cereal, cereal bars and rice crackers, is Pepsi’s leading healthy brand. Pepsi hopes to use its expertise in product design and packaging to make these goods more enticing, especially to children at breakfast time. It is already testing oatmeal drinks and biscuits, as well as new flavours of porridge. Quaker Oats packaging will also get a more contemporary look, although the black-hatted Quaker mascot will survive. “Our goal”, says Ms Nooyi, in typically forthright style, “is to rewrite the rules of breakfast.”

There is no doubting the seriousness of Ms Nooyi’s drive to increase Pepsi’s sales of healthy products. But it will not be easy to push them without undermining sales of its other, less wholesome wares or appearing to nanny its customers. Moreover, politicians and public-health campaigners may not regard selling more healthy products, while continuing to profit handsomely from unhealthy ones, as the best way to tackle obesity.

TalonaCat

I have some really mixed emotions about this... -_-

lilchino4af

If they brought back soda made with sugar instead of HFCS then that would be a step in the right direction. Granted, using real sugar would make it cost more, but I think the end result of making it healthier would be worth it. Not to mention the real sugar makes it taste better! Hehe, this coming from me, who hasn't had a soda in over 70 days! :bigsmile:

TOYGRRRL

Thank you lilchino4af for stating the obvious that seems to be lost by most. If they removed all the HFC from their drinks that would be a hugh step in the right direction. It has already been shown in a new study made at Hopkins University that half the amount of HFC in a diet vs twice the sugar calories causes severe cases of obesity in rats and mice! What does that tell you? I think it's a warning to the corn refining industry.

j4nash

If they brought back soda made with sugar instead of HFCS then that would be a step in the right direction. Granted, using real sugar would make it cost more, but I think the end result of making it healthier would be worth it. Not to mention the real sugar makes it taste better! Hehe, this coming from me, who hasn't had a soda in over 70 days! :bigsmile:

Pepsi Throwback

sendmoretigers

any way you look at it, processed food products are unhealthy and unnecessary. a reduction in this or that won't change the fact that they are processed food products. as for using real sugar in pepsi, pepsi throwback, well...that's still 40g of refined sugar. the article says they are looking to reduce the sugar by 10%, great!!! 30g of refined sugar, there are organic sodas and ice creams available and have been for a long time but they're still soda and ice cream, nice treats but not something to consume regularly