Latest news with #CocaColaCEO
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Coke bottles bitter US economic formula
NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Mexico is a frequent target of Donald Trump's ire, but he prefers the Coke sold there. After holding conversations with the president, Coca-Cola (KO.N), opens new tab unveiled plans to roll out a version of its signature soda using cane sugar, as it is sold south of the border, instead of corn syrup. Even setting aside the idea of the Oval Office occupant influencing one of the world's most successful recipes, it's a classic case of industrial policy gone awry. The $300 billion company has occasionally tinkered with the Coke formula over its 139-year lifespan, removing the cocaine, opens new tab that was originally included in 1903 and introducing a sweeter New Coke in 1985, which created a marketing disaster. After Coca-Cola and other carbonated beverage makers started using corn syrup for their U.S. products in the 1980s, the so-called Mexican Coke, bottled with purer sucrose, became a cultish find in supermarkets. Making it more widely available bubbles up a multitude of complications. Homegrown sugar – as Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey vowed to use – is pricey because the Department of Agriculture tightly controls production and limits imports. There have been levies on it since 1789, and the U.S. government started providing farmers with financing in 1981 to help underpin prices. It costs about 50% more today for domestic sugar than what's sold internationally, according to the Sweeteners Users Association trade group. There's also the matter of U.S. support for corn. It's the most subsidized crop in the country, with growers receiving some $3 billion of direct payments, insurance and loans from the government. The feed grain accounts for 30% of all U.S. agricultural assistance. Championing Coke with sugar muddles the various policy objectives while also inviting more imports from Mexico. Moreover, both ingredients contradict other White House positions. Although Trump guzzles Diet Coke, his Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy has denounced high fructose corn syrup and sugar as poison and wants to prevent low-income Americans from buying soda with their food assistance money. These clashes over Coke's recipe mainly serve to accentuate distasteful U.S. economic formulas. Follow Jennifer Saba on Bluesky, opens new tab and LinkedIn, opens new tab. Coca-Cola said on July 22 that it plans to roll out a version of its signature soda sweetened with U.S. cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup after President Donald Trump issued a statement on July 16 saying he had been discussing the idea with the company.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Coca-Cola to sell cane sugar version of its signature cola in US
This story was originally published on Food Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Food Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: Coca-Cola plans to launch a version of its namesake soda this fall made with U.S. cane sugar. Coke with sugar will not replace most Coke that is made with high fructose corn syrup. The beverage giant said the cola 'is designed to complement the company's strong core portfolio and offer more choices across occasions and preferences.' The news comes less than a week after President Donald Trump said Coca-Cola agreed to use cane sugar in its signature soda in the U.S. High-fructose corn syrup has been previously criticized by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as 'a formula for making you obese and diabetic.' Dive Insight: Coca-Cola is no stranger to using sugar in its popular cola. Coke in some countries, such as Mexico, uses sugar. Coca-Cola imports the beverage from Mexico to the U.S. for consumers who prefer the taste or who view sugar as a more natural ingredient. CEO James Quincey told analysts on Tuesday that Coca-Cola also uses cane sugar in its other products, including coffee, lemonade and tea. Coke with sugar 'will be an enduring option for consumers,' Quincey said. "We are definitely looking to use the whole toolbox of available sweetening options to some extent where there are consumer preferences." After peaking in 1999, soft drink consumption has fallen every year as people become more health-conscious and prices increase, according to IBISWorld. Consumers are forecast to drink 42 gallons of soft drinks this year, down from nearly 50 gallons at its peak. The decline has prompted soda makers to look for ways to have their core brands appeal to more consumers. Earlier this week, PepsiCo said it would launch a Pepsi offering with prebiotics this fall. Recommended Reading Trump says Coca-Cola to use cane sugar in namesake beverage Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
South China Morning Post
22-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Coca-Cola confirms a cane-sugar version of its trademark soda will be sold in US
Coca-Cola said on Tuesday it will add a cane-sugar version of its trademark cola to its US line-up this fall, confirming a recent announcement by US President Donald Trump. Trump said in a social media post last week that Coca-Cola had agreed to use real cane sugar in its flagship product in the US, which has been sweetened with high fructose corn syrup since the 1980s. Coke did not immediately confirm the change, but promised new offerings soon. On Tuesday, Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO James Quincey said Coke will expand its product range 'to reflect consumer interest in differentiated experiences'. 'We appreciate the president's enthusiasm for our Coca-Cola brand,' Quincey said in a conference call with investors on Tuesday. 'We are definitely looking to use the whole toolkitkit of available sweetening options.' Quincey noted that Coca-Cola uses cane sugar in some other US drinks, such as its Simply brand lemonade and Honest Tea. Coca-Cola has also sold Mexican Coke, which is made with cane sugar, in the US since 2005. 'We're always looking for opportunities to innovate and see whether there's an intersection of new ideas and where consumer preferences are evolving,' Quincey said. 'It's a good sign that the industry, including ourselves, is trying lots of different things.'
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Make Coca-Cola Great Again
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Donald Trump is enamored with Coca-Cola. In January, he smiled from ear to ear in a photo with the company's CEO, who gifted him a special Coke bottle commemorating his inauguration. When Trump officially returned to the Oval Office as president a few days later, his desk was already set up as it had been in his first term: with a button to summon a bottle of Diet Coke. Between sips of the fizzy drink (at one point, he reportedly drank up to 12 cans a day), the president has apparently been working the company behind the scenes. Yesterday, he announced on Truth Social that Coke has agreed to start making its signature soda with 'REAL Cane Sugar' rather than high-fructose corn syrup. 'I'd like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola,' he wrote. So far, little else is known about the supposed deal. I asked Coke for more information but did not hear back. The company has yet to even confirm that it has agreed to anything at all. ('More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon,' a company spokesman told The New York Times earlier today.) Although the move may seem random, it follows a pattern of Trump trying to score easy political points—especially during a moment when his base is at war with itself over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The clearest argument for cane sugar over corn syrup is taste. 'You'll see. It's just better!' Trump said on Truth Social. Coke is made with cane sugar in Mexico and many other countries, and 'Mexican Coke' has long had a cult following in the United States. Trump may also be doing the 'Make America healthy again' movement a solid. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has focused on high-fructose corn syrup as a major contributor to diabetes and obesity. 'Thank you, @POTUS!,' Kennedy wrote on X following the announcement. The taste argument is fair enough. But if Trump does think Americans' health is at stake in a switch from high-fructose corn syrup to cane sugar, he's relying on some very confused reasoning. Like many MAHA priorities, the change is better on paper than in practice. Kennedy may oppose high-fructose corn syrup, but he has also called sugar 'poison.' He's right to be wary of both, because sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are, by and large, the same thing. Multiple independent meta-analyses have found that there is little difference between the two when it comes to health metrics such as weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol. The two products 'have nearly identical metabolic effects,' Dariush Mozaffarian, the director of Tuft University's Food Is Medicine Institute, told me. Trump is essentially claiming that he got Coke to agree to switch its sugar … for sugar. If Trump wanted to use Coke as a lever to improve Americans' health, he would need to focus on making sure as few people drink the stuff as possible. In the world of public health, soda is a scourge. Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has been tied to increased body weight, diabetes, and heart disease. These drinks are the largest source of added sugar in the American diet. The Trump administration, to its credit, has spent the past several months trying to temper the United States' insatiable soda habit. At the urging of RFK Jr. and other top officials, six states—Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, and Utah—have experimented with bans on the purchase of soda using SNAP benefits. But at times, RFK Jr. has seemed to lose the plot on sugar. It's among the biggest problems with the American diet, but it hasn't been Kennedy's primary focus as health secretary. He has spent more time and effort attempting to crack down on synthetic food dyes. For the past several months, Kennedy has been pressuring food companies to voluntarily remove such dyes from their products—a move that, like Trump's purported deal with Coke, makes for grabby headlines. Food giants such as Kraft Heinz, General Mills, and Nestlé have all agreed to phase out artificial dyes from their products. But Lucky Charms made with natural food dyes and still loaded with sugar is hardly a win for American health. It's a tumultuous time to be a food company; the MAHA army might suddenly come after an ingredient in your product that people previously agreed was safe. (Yesterday, after Trump's announcement, Coke defended on X the safety of high-fructose corn syrup.) Agreeing to remove a controversial ingredient is a way to get in the administration's good graces and can be a good business move—even if your foods are largely still unhealthy. In fact, food companies have started to find that they don't actually need to sell healthy food in order to be MAHA approved; they just need to remove the few ingredients Kennedy objects to. No company quite embodies this strategy like Steak 'n Shake. The burger chain has become a MAHA darling: Steak 'n Shake announced earlier this year that it would begin frying french fries in beef tallow instead of seed oils. To celebrate the change, Kennedy had a meal at a Steak 'n Shake for a photo opp with Sean Hannity that was broadcast on Fox News. (He thanked the restaurant for 'RFK-ing the french fries.') What this moment didn't capture was that, at Steak 'n Shake, you can still order a double cheeseburger with 1,120 milligrams of sodium—half the recommended daily amount for adults. Wash it down with a vanilla milkshake, and you'll have just consumed 92 grams of sugar, equivalent to gorging on three Snickers bars. Or how about a Coke with your beef-tallow fries? Today, Steak 'n Shake announced the next step in its 'MAHA journey': In a few weeks, it will begin selling 'Coca-Cola with real cane sugar in glass bottles.' Article originally published at The Atlantic Solve the daily Crossword
The Sun
17-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Trump confirms Coca Cola is CHANGING recipe as he assures: ‘It's just better!'
DONALD Trump revealed he has convinced Coca Cola to make a major change to its recipe - one his Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy has pushed for. The President claimed the drinks giant has agreed to start using real cane sugar in beverages sold in the US - rather than corn syrup. 5 5 5 Trump wrote on Truth Social: "I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so. "I'd like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola." Robert F Kennedy has raised concerns in the past about the health impacts of corn syrup. Celebrating the recipe tweak, Trump said: "This will be a very good move by them - You'll see. It's just better!" The fizzy drinks giant did not respond directly to the news, but a spokesperson said they "appreciate President Trump's enthusiasm". They added that "more details on news innovative offerings within out Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon". While Coke sold in the US is sweetened with corn syrup, it is already made using cane sugar in other countries - including Mexico, the UK and Australia. In April, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said: "We continue to make progress on sugar reduction in our beverages". He said the Atlanta-based company has "done this by changing recipes as well as by using our global marketing resources and distribution network to boost awareness of and interest in our ever-expanding portfolio". Making the switch to cane sugar would be bad for business amongst American corn farmers, industry figures said. Donald Trump spotted pocketing Club World Cup winners medal as president walks off stage Corn Refiners Association President and CEO John Bode said: "Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit." Kennedy has taken aim at a range of ingredients in his Make America Healthy Again campaign, including corn syrup, seed oils and artificial dyes. He has pressed companies to remove these from their recipes and linked them to a variety of health problems. Kennedy has also criticised the amount of sugar Americans consume, and an update to the nationwide dietary guidelines is reportedly in the works for this summer. Trump is known to be a big fan of Coca Cola - but drinks exclusively Diet Coke. This uses neither cane sugar nor corn syrup, but the artificial sweetener aspartame. The President even had a button installed in the Oval Office so he could guzzle the soda on tap. 5 5
