President Donald Trump says Coca-Cola has agreed to use real cane sugar in its drinks sold in the US.
Coca-Cola uses corn syrup in its American products, but Trump’s Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has voiced concern about the ingredient’s health impacts.
“I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so,” Trump wrote on social media. “I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola.”
Without explicitly confirming the recipe tweak, a Coca-Cola spokesperson said they “appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm” and “more details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon”.
Trump said in Wednesday’s post on Truth Social: “This will be a very good move by them – You’ll see. It’s just better!”
While Coke sold in the US is typically sweetened with corn syrup, in many other countries it is sweetened in different ways – for example, Mexico uses cane sugar.
In April, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey told investors that “we continue to make progress on sugar reduction in our beverages”.
He said the Atlanta-based company has “done this by changing recipes as well as by using our global marketing resources and distribution network to boost awareness of and interest in our ever-expanding portfolio”.
But any decision to use cane sugar instead might leave a bitter aftertaste for American corn farmers.
Corn Refiners Association President and CEO John Bode said in a statement: “Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.”
The US health secretary and his Make America Healthy Again movement have advocated for companies to remove ingredients such as corn syrup, seed oils and artificial dyes from their products, linking them to a litany of health problems.
Kennedy has also been critical of the amount of sugar Americans consume and reportedly plans to update nationwide dietary guidelines this summer.
Trump is a regular drinker of Diet Coke – which uses the artificial sweetener aspartame. He had a button installed in the Oval Office’s Resolute desk so he can be served the soda.