Coca-Cola has started selling soda with cane sugar in the US after President Trump demanded the company make an American version of its Mexican Coke.
Starting this fall, the company is selling “a new 12-oz single-serve glass bottle in select US markets, offering consumers a classic and timeless way to enjoy their Coca-Cola Original Taste made with US cane sugar,” a Coca-Cola spokesperson told The Post.
The company in July announced the new soda was coming to the US, after Trump claimed the company had “agreed” to start adding “REAL cane sugar” in American Coke.
“You’ll see,” the president wrote. “It’s just better!”
Several international versions of Coke use cane sugar, including Mexican Coke, which the company started importing to Texas in the early 2000s. It has since gained a cultlike following.
Fans of Mexican Coke have argued cane sugar gives the soda a “cleaner,” “sharper” taste.
Participants in blind taste tests also tend to choose the cane sugar-sweetened option, according to the New York Times.
Coca-Cola already uses cane sugar in other beverages sold in the US, including Simply Lemonade, Gold Peak iced tea and Costa canned coffee.
It made the switch to cheaper high-fructose corn syrup in its namesake soft drinks years ago.
But Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has railed against the ingredient during his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign, even calling it “poison.”
“Clearly it is linked to the obesity epidemic. It’s linked to the diabetes epidemic,” Kennedy said in 2023 on “The Breakfast Club,” a radio show.
“If you’re going to drink Coca-Cola, drink a Mexican Coke because they don’t have it in it.”
After Steak ‘n Shake announced it would start offering Coca-Cola with real cane sugar at its restaurants, Kennedy tweeted: “MAHA is winning.”
The company’s rollout of real cane sugar Coke will be staggered as it faces several supply chain snags.
“It’s going to be a measured rollout,” Chief Financial Officer John Murphy told Bloomberg. “There is only a certain amount of cane sugar available in the United States.”
The cane sugar soda comes in Coca-Cola’s iconic glass bottles – and limited production capacity for this bottling process presents another challenge.
“If you look at the success of Mexican Coke in the United States, it’s a combination of the product and the package and we’re very keen to offer that same combination using American cane sugar,” Murphy told the outlet.
The ability to bottle the cane sugar drink in glass bottles needs to expand before the new drink can be distributed nationwide, according to Murphy.
Experts have warned that swapping out one sugar with another won’t do much to make the drinks healthier. Rather, consumers should be focused on drinking fewer sugary beverages.
“Our bodies aren’t going to know if that’s cane sugar or high-fructose corn syrup,” Caroline Susie, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a registered dietitian nutritionist, told Health.
“We just know that it is sugar and we need to break that down,” she added.
The FDA has said it is “not aware of any evidence” that there is a difference in safety between high-fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners, like sucrose or honey.
Coca-Cola – like many other food companies – has lately seen success in its healthier products, like BodyArmor and Smartwater.
In the third quarter, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar volumes jumped 14% globally.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
