New York Plans to Ban Sale of Big Sizes of Fizzy Drinks

MUMBAI: Dabur is launching fruit-based carbonated drinks to cater to customers wanting fizzy beverages without feeling guilty about consuming them. The move comes almost two years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi first urged cola companies to add fruit juice to their fizzy drinks. The current rules stipulate that a minimum 10% fruit juice or pulp (5% in the case of lemon) is required to be classified as a carbonated fruit beverage. Dabur's new range called Real VOLO - (V Only Live Once) will contain 20-25% fruit juice.

NEW DELHI: Juices and juice drinks such as Real, Slice and Tropicana have for the first time pushed fizzy drinks Coca-Cola and Pepsi out of the top five highest sold beverages across modern retail chains in the first half of 2016, three industry officials said quoting Nielsen data. The development mirrors the global trend of consumers increasingly opting for healthier and functional beverages over aerated ones. The officials clarified that the data is only for modern trade, and aerated drinks could be selling more across general trade, helped by their significantly bigger base.

NEW DELHI: The food regulator's proposal to relax norms for carbonated juices, allowing a lower threshold for their juice content, will trigger more launches in the fizzy drinks category, officials at beverage makers Coca-Cola and PepsiCo said. Existing Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) rules require a minimum of 10 per cent fruit juice or pulp content in such beverages to qualify as a juice drink, except in lime where it is 5 per cent.

NEW DELHI: Coca-Cola's Asia Pacific region head has told its India employees that fizzy drinks will remain its core focus area even as he called for innovation to grow its portfolio of no-calorie products, two company officials said. "We see abundant opportunity in the beverage industry and in the sparkling (carbonated drinks) category," John Murphy told the firm's employees earlier this week, on his first visit to India after being named successor to Atul Singh as Coca-Cola Asia Pacific president in May.

NEW DELHI: PepsiCo's stevia revolution will start with 7Up in India. If it works, the plant based sweetener could be used in the company's products across the range. Following the government's suggestion that it reduce sugar in beverages, PepsiCo's 7Up has become the first fizzy drink in the country to do that by adding stevia, said to be the world's most sought-after natural sweetener. The new product, which is being tested in Gujarat, will contain 30% less sugar. This will also be the first use of stevia to sweeten 7Up anywhere, said Vipul Prakash, PepsiCo's vice-president for beverages.

NEW DELHI: Sugar-free fizzy drinks have hit their highest-ever sales figures in India, bucking a downtrend seen in the overall soda market in the country over the past few quarters, according to industry executives. The diets and lights sparkling drinks category has recorded 39% growth for the period between September 2014 and August 2015, up from a compounded annual growth rate of 13% between 2010 and 2014, two industry officials said, citing data from researcher Nielsen. The revival is led by Coca-Cola's zerocalorie drink Coke Zero, which was launched last September.