Due to consumer concerns regarding safety, Pepsi has taken the decision to remove the artificial sweetener aspartame from its cans of Diet Pepsi which will go on sale from August, although only in its US business.
Regulators in the US and UK still maintain that aspartame in soft drinks is safe, despite sales in Diet Pepsi dropping more than 5% in the US, thought to be because of health concerns. The sweetener is to be replaced with another sweetener called sucralose, mixed with acesulfame potassium (Ace-K) according to PepsiCo.
Vice-president of Pepsi, Seth Kaufman said: "Aspartame is the number one reason consumers are dropping diet soda" adding that people still recognised the reformulated drink to be Diet Pepsi but it might have a "slightly different mouth-feel".
A close eye has been kept on aspartame since it was approved in the 1980s, and a number of studies that have been done supports aspartame’s safety, however regulators say that there needs to be a limit on how much people consume.
