PepsiCo is reducing its salt and sugar content in India

By Frazer Jones

May 17, 2020

undefined mins

PepsiCo is making some changes in India. According to a new report, the drinks and snacks giant is taking considerable steps forward to reduce salt and...

PepsiCo is making some changes in India. According to a new report, the drinks and snacks giant is taking considerable steps forward to reduce salt and sugar in the products it makes for the India consumer market.

As India news source The Economic Times reports, the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has made plans to set up an expert committee in order to better regulate salt, sugar, and fat in foods. But PepsiCo in particular aims to improve these standards in its own products ahead of official regulation—starting with new products like a reduced sugar version of 7 Up called “7 Up Revive” and lower-salt versions of Lay’s potato chips and other snacks from PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division:

A spokesperson for PepsiCo said, "As part of our global commitment to performance with purpose, we continue to refine our food and beverage choices to meet changing consumer needs by reducing sodium, added sugars and saturated fat, and developing a broader portfolio of product choices."

The reasoning for this shift appears to be a changing consumer climate not unlike the shift that is also occurring amid consumers in the United States and Europe—more than ever before, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with what ingredients and formulas are used to create the food that they eat and the beverages they drink. In India, one of the biggest concerns right now is the high level of salt and sugar present in consumer packaged goods. Those ingredients may make snack food so tempting, but they can also lead to health issues in high amounts.

The trick with this new move from PepsiCo will be that consumer interest isn’t always high or broad for niche lower-calorie snack foods, especially when they maintain their flavor through artificial additives like aspartame, which consumers are also increasingly looking to avoid. But by sticking to simpler ingredients, and by building off of the success of established brands rather than introducing new “health” brands, PepsiCo may be able to meet the demands of both committees and consumers alike.

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