Diet Pepsi secretly added a new artificial sweetener to its formula, in a desperate flavor-saving move to can declining sales.
The Purchase, NY, beverage maker quietly added acesulfame potassium to Diet Pepsi, to boost its base sweetener aspartame — which is sensitive to heat and is susceptible to breaking down.
Cans of the newly formulated Diet Pepsi were found this weekend in New York, Omaha, Neb., and the San Francisco Bay Area.
PepsiCo officials said the new Diet Pepsi will be gradually rolled out, as retailers move their current inventory.
“It’s not like a light switch. It’ll start appearing as shelf space clears,” company spokeswoman Andrea Canabal said yesterday.
The actual taste of Diet Pepsi shouldn’t be any different, but the sweetness could have longer shelf life with acesulfame potassium. The ingredient boost was meant “to ensure consistency with every sip,” according to the company.
“A change in sweetener does not change the flavor,” said John Sicher, editor and publisher of the industry trade mag Beverage Digest.
Diet Pepsi is now the nation’s seventh most popular carbonated drink, with 4.9 percent of the market — down from 5.3 percent in 2000, according to Beverage Digest.
In that same time frame, rival Diet Coke — which uses just aspartame — has surged from 8.7 percent to 9.6 percent.
Diet Coke has climbed to No. 2 among all soda pop in 2010, second only to regular Coke and pushing regular Pepsi down to No. 3.