Two signature soda brands from the Coca-Cola Co. will be given the diet treatment: coming this summer, Sprite and Fanta soft drinks will have a mid-calorie option, according to a new report by the Associated Press. The company will create the lighter drinks, called "Sprite Select" and "Fanta Select" with the addition of sugar with other sweeteners, including Truvia (taken from the stevia leaf extract, as stated on Truvia.com) and erythritol (a sugar alcohol and approved food additive, as confirmed by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report in September 2001).
The company, based in Atlanta, will first have a test trial this coming summer in several Midwestern cities, including Atlanta, Louisville, Memphis, and Detroit, though according to a spokesperson for Coca-Cola, Scott Williamson, there are no future plans to expand the "Select" brands nationally. Williamson also noted that tests for "Sprite Select" and "Fanta Select" were part of Coca-Cola's ongoing development efforts.
"We're always looking at testing different formulations to see what, if any, appeal they might have," he said.
The "Select" drinks will be different than the Pepsi Next brand released earlier this year by PepsiCo Inc. John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest, said that the two new Coca-Cola brands will contain what are considered "natural sweeteners," which will differ from Pepsi Next that reported contain a mixture of high fructose corn syrup and three artificial sweeteners, according to the AP.
"This is a different kind of product - it's a mid-calorie drink made with all-natural sweeteners," Sicher said.
Reported, 12-ounce cans of both "Fanta Select" and "Sprite Select" will contain 70 calories, whereas a can of regular Fanta has 160 calories, and Sprite contains 140 calories, said the Associated Press.
Both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have tried the half-calorie brands in the past, though due to poor sales, they were removed from the market. PepsiCo, in 2004, released its "Pepsi Edge," whose silver-and-blue can stated that it was "full flavor" with "50% less sugar," while Coca-Cola introduced its red-and-black cans of "C2."
Sicher told the Associated Press that it may be at least a year before Coca-Cola or PepsiCo could devise if their new half-calorie products would have staying power for the long-run.
"It's all going to depend on taste," Sicher said.
