Venezuela Bans Coke Zero
The AP is reporting that Venezuela has banned Coke Zero because the company allegedly didn't declare a potentially harmful artificial sweetener when it "received its initial health permit to begin selling the product in April."
Coke denies that the sweetener in question, sodium cyclamate, is even in the beverage. Sodium cyclamate is legal in Venezuela, but not in the U.S.
The AP says:
The U.S. prohibits the use of cyclamates in human food because of health safety concerns. Sales of Coca-Cola Zero elsewhere in Latin America have met with resistance over the sweetener's use.
But Rosy Alvarez, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Servicios de Venezuela, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Coca-Cola Zero sold in Venezuela uses other artificial sweeteners.
"No ingredient of Coca-Cola Zero is harmful to peoples' health," she said
The Venezuelan government says that tests show Coke Zero contains the sweetener.
Venezuela Bans Coca-Cola [MyFoxAtlanta]
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Comments:
why didn't they just make it the same as in the US, with sucralose? licensing issues?
"No ingredient of Coca-Cola Zero is harmful to peoples' health," she said.
Quick! Someone drink 300 of them and have your heirs get a lawyer!
This is just going to be an excuse for Hugo Chavez to nationalize the Venezuelan soft drink industry.
@lpranal: It's not sucralose in the US, it's aspartame. At least, it was last time I looked.
(I have adverse reactions to aspartame, don't particularly enjoy water, and have to count calories fairly strictly, so I'm always on the lookout for sucralose-based beverages I can sip in the afternoon.)
That reeks of politics more than anything else.
@Etoiles: right you are, sort of. thanks to wikipedia for a ridiculous amount of detailed information on the subject:
china uses sucralose. I try to avoid aspartame also, just because it tastes so synthetic. I guess I assumed it was sucralose because coke zero actually tastes kind of good (compared to diet coke)
@Etoiles: You're correct. It's still aspartame. The question is...aside from the taste, why did Coca Cola feel the need to create a second aspartame sweetened diet brand?
Sodium cyclamate is legal in Venezuela, but not in the U.S.
I'm confused. It's legal in Venezuela, but they flake out that the Coke might have a "potentially harmful artificial sweetener" in it? If it's a problem, why is it allowed to be used?
@SnoopyFish: Given their anti-american stances and whatnot, I'd have to go with Coke on this one. Probably trying to find a way to steal coke's factories over there. "We must co-opt these American Pig's factories for the peoples!"
@Nighthawke: That doesn't make too much sense, you know.
If this were political, don't you think Venezuela would move beyond Coke Zero? Why not ban Coke, period?
It's not like Venezuela wouldn't have enough legitimate reasons to do so already, what with Coke's tarnished, murderous record in neighboring Colombia.
No, this reeks of, at most, bureaucracy. And at least, laboratories.
@Smashville: Coke Zero is billed as a zero calorie soft drink for men. It's the same reason Pepsi recently released Pepsi Max. I guess they don't get enough males purchasing the normal Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi brands.
@Smashville: Coke Zero is based on the same formula as Coca-Cola Classic, while Diet Coke is based on the same formula as New Coke. Diet Coke tastes like arse because New Coke tasted like arse.
@KHook321: Pepsi Max does have extra caffeine...or at least it was billed as that when it came out...as far as I can tell, Diet Coke and Coke Zero have no differing qualities other than marketing (and one is delicious and the other is only good with alcohol).
Coke Zerooo is sooo gooood. It's compelling to write sooo many ooooos. The McD's in Spain have them on tap.
From what I understand, we use Corn Syrup b/c other countries put high tariffs on their sugar b/c we have high tariffs on our corn. So it's more economical for them to use real sugar instead of corn syrup and vice versa. Could this be along the same lines to protest them not using sugar to get around a tariff?
They shouldn't even be drinking mass manufactured soft drinks. What a waste of money/health/economy/other blame the victim statement.
I make my own homemade Pepsi with organic ingredients that I grow in the yard from seeds that I find in the woods because I don't buy mass manufactured seeds.
My homemade Mountain Dew is fantastic...I have a secret ingredient to give it the yellow color.
If this Wikipedia chart is correct, Coke Zero contains sodium cyclamate in many countries, including Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia and Costa Rica.
And according to another Wikipedia page, despite the controversy over its safety, cyclamate is permitted in quite a few countries -- in Canada, it's the active ingredient in Sweet'n Low (because they banned saccharin).
If he actually had the stones and a larger penis, he would just throw down. Instead, he's like the passive aggressive neighbor next door that constantly complains about made up events trying to look like a martyr.
If they made a non-carbonated version of Coke Zero I would forgo water.
@Smashville: Coke zero is the diet version of coca cola classic. Diet coke is the diet version of "new coke." No joke.
@Saboth: Their anti-american stance? What, with their government offering free heating oil to poor Americans in the winter when prices were through the roof? Yeah, they really hate us big time.
@Etoiles: My understanding is that it's actually a combo of aspartame (Equal) and acesulfame potassium (not sold under a specific brand name) and/or possibly saccharin (Sweet'n'Low) or sucralose (Splenda).
The general idea being that using a bit of each to sweeten it lowers the detectable aftertaste of any, while still being low/no-cal overall.
This combo is what makes Coke Zero (and the corresponding product, Pepsi Max) different than straight up Diet Coke, or even Diet Coke with Splenda.
@Etoiles: Our Wal-Mart supercenter and Sams Club both have a HUGE selection of Diet-Rite sodas which are ALL sweetened with Splenda and taste very good. If you haven't, you should check it out!
*sips on his Diet Rite white grape*
@SnoopyFish: Coke is full of BS, there's no doubt.
They did the same thing in Mexico, and the public reaction was bad enough for them to change the formula, and now coke zero bottles have a "now without cyclamates" tag, or something of the sort.
Heck, they got burned bad, because the rumor spread and eventually tagged Diet Coke too, even though that one had nothing to do with it.
@youbastid: Erm, read a bit. The administration hates the US with a passion. It's painfully obvious.
Even that move was a political ploy to throw propaganda against the US government. "Even we can provide what the US can't".
@youbastid: If I may quote the president of Venezuala; "[Venezuela has] a strong oil card to play on the geopolitical stage ... It is a card that we are going to play with toughness against the toughest country in the world, the United States."
Hugo Chavez is a dictator who uses nationalization to silence dissent while claiming it's just a part of improving the country. As Venezuala is an OPEC member that was in part responsible for those through the roof prices, giving back some small portion of those profits was entirely an attempt to goad the US government and issue some "socialist" (the country is not legitimately socialist) propaganda.
It is in cokes best interest to not lie since if they do they will have much more issues in the US.
Fortunately, Nuka-Cola Quantum is freely available in Venezuela.
@veg-o-matic: I'd like to see some more about Coke's "tarnished, murderous record in neighboring Columbia."
This is the same political ploy that Chavez has been playing with other US companies. He has to be seen as being anti-US to maintain any semblance of legitimacy. It's funny to note that Citgo, owned lock, stock and barrel by the Venezuelan government, is heavily advertising that it is a local company in ads around the US.
When all else fails, blame the gringos.
@Grive: @Megalomania: The Venezuelan administration hates (or hated) the American administration. Not the American people. Many people make the mistake of equating contention against their government as contention against their person, but considering many of us have those same contentions against the way the US gov't does things, we shouldn't be so quick to just label countries with opposing viewpoints as "America haters." That's soooo October 2001.
@lpranal: A few years ago, Coke Zero was made with sucralose/Splenda. But about 2006 or 07, Coke removed the Splenda, replacing it with acesulfame K and aspartame. I liked it better with the Splenda.
@Etoiles:
Diet Coke is sweetened with aspartame.
Coke Zero is sweetened with Acesulfame-K. [ [en.wikipedia.org] ]
I get violent headaches if I drink Acesulfame-K. Took me a while to figure it out, because I rarely drink commercial soda, but I finally realized Coke Zero was NOT the same as Diet Coke.
If you're watching calories or chemicals, SodaStream makes a machine that allows you to carbonate tap water. Then you can make sodas at home out of anything.
Sounds like someone didn't pay tribute to Hugo.
@youbastid: If you think they do it out of any legitimate concern for poor Americans, you are on extremely good drugs.
They could, in fact, worry about the truly poor in their own country. Ahhh, nothing like fresh radical dictators in the morning.
@youbastid: I do see a lot of you hating on pretty much everything involving the American government. I mean, I can't stand the lot of them either, but I'm know I'm better off here than in Venezuela.
@Rugbydan: We have poor and hungry people here, and yet we give aid to other countries. Does that make it not count?
That's rather strange. Either Coke is full of BS, or the Venezuelan scientists are really bad at what they do.