Coke’s Coming Out?
If you need more evidence that consumers’ interests in whole, natural foods are affecting big business, check out Coca-Cola’s latest announcement.
Apparently impelled by consumers’ desires for natural foods, or their avoidance of artificial ingredients, Coca-Cola said last month that Coke is in fact an all-natural beverage with no preservatives or artificial ingredients.
The statement was made in Great Britain, which along with Europe is way ahead of the United States in expressing a preference for natural foods.
Cathryn Sleight, the marketing director of Coca-Cola Great Britain, was quoted in The New York Times as saying, “When we talked to consumers about Coke, we realized they didn’t know that it has no added preservatives or artificial flavors. We felt it was important to reassure Coke drinkers of this fact.”
The company even has a Web site,www.letsgettogether.co.uk, where it answers questions (but doesn’t reveal anything significant) about the formula.
Coke has long said that it has never changed its original formula, which dates back to 1886. Still, the company never talked about it, other than to say it was a secret.
But apparently many consumers assumed that Coke had something fake in it.
In a way, this is really no big revelation.
Like all food products, Coke has its ingredients listed on the label: carbonated water, corn syrup (in place of the original sugar), caffeine, phosphoric acid, caramel for color and “natural flavorings.”
Of course, it’s the last ingredient that holds the secret, and we may never find out what those natural flavorings are. But the list does not have any preservatives or the vague “artificial flavorings” that the government allows food companies to use.
Still, Coca-Cola is making a point of telling people that Coke is free of preservatives and artificial ingredients.
It may not seem like much, but it is a telling sign of the way food companies are really taking seriously the consumers who want whole foods, and who want companies to follow envirnmentally friendly practices in general.
