The beverage and snack group Pepsi wants to significantly reduce the amount of sugar in beverages.
In its beverages offered in the EU, the group is aiming for a quarter less sugar by 2025, and by 2030 it should be 50 percent. The calories in the German beverage portfolio are said to be reduced by 90 percent – compared to 2015, half of the calories have already been banned. Pepsi wants to do good, which is also good for business, said Garret Quigley, head of PepsiCo Western Europe, the German press agency.
[BRANDS] #FMCG: PEPSI IS REDUCING SUGAR CONTENT IN ITS BEVERAGES BY 2025. https://t.co/FVY49ItHlM pic.twitter.com/j4pIdlmILX
— theBRAND RADIO (@BRANDplanetfm) October 19, 2016
“We know people want to live healthy lives,” said Quigley. Sales of products with a Nutri-Score B or better are expected to increase by a factor of ten over the next five years. In addition, they want to use more recycled plastic and the bottom line is that they will not emit any more emissions by 2040.
The Nutri-Score is a system for marking the nutritional profile of a food on the packaging – with a five-point scale made up of a combination of letters from A to E and colors. “A” in green stands for the cheapest and “E” in red for the most unfavourable nutritional balance.
The company reacts to an urgent need for action: In this country, 47 percent of women, 62 percent of men and 15 percent of children are considered overweight. Too much sugar has been linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Pepsi’s competitor Nestlé is also working to have less sugar in its products.
Doctors have long been warning of the dangers of too much sugar in food. The German Nutrition Society recommends on average – depending on size and weight – a maximum of 50 grams of sugar per day. That would be achieved after a good half a litre of non-reduced-sugar lemonade.
A sugar tax introduced in Great Britain in 2018 had an effect: At the beginning of last year, the Foodwatch organization found that certain lemonades in Germany sometimes contain more than twice as much sugar as the variants offered on the island.
