Kraft cuts high-fructose corn syrup from Capri Sun drinks
by The Associated Press
Food and beverage giant is turning to zero-calorie sweetener stevia and plain old sugar to sweeten the drinks marketed to kids
NEW YORK—Kraft Foods says it will start sweetening its Capri Sun drinks with sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.
The company says the change will apply to its original Capri Sun drinks, and that the number of calories will go down to 50 per pack, from 60.
The reformulated drinks started shipping to retailers this week and should start appearing on shelves nationally in coming weeks, the company said.
For its Roarin’ Waters line, which is marketed as being low-calorie, the company is replacing the high-fructose corn syrup with sugar and the artificial sweetener sucralose with the zero-calorie sweetener stevia, extracted from a plant.
High-fructose corn syrup has become a maligned ingredient in recent years, in part because it’s seen as a cheaper, less-natural substitute for sugar.
In hopes of combating negative perceptions, the Corn Refiners Association in 2010 submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration to have the sweetener renamed “corn sugar” on nutrition labels. The request was denied.
