Diet Pepsi dropping aspartame from its formula starting this summer

Diet Pepsi can.
(Image credit: Facebook.com/Pepsi)

With sales slipping, PepsiCo announced that it will no longer sweeten Diet Pepsi with aspartame.

Starting in August, Diet Pepsi's new formula will use sucralose and ace-K instead of aspartame, which some people believe is linked to cancer. Seth Kaufman, senior vice president of Pepsi and flavors, told USA Today that the change wasn't due to questions about the safety of aspartame — he said it is perfectly safe for consumption — but what customers said they wanted. "To Diet Pepsi consumers, removing aspartame is their No. 1 concern," he said. "We're listening to consumers. It's what they want."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.