No, Mexican Coke sold in U.S. won’t be sweetened with corn syrup

Fans of Mexican Coke have been dismayed, saddened and angered at recent reports that their beloved soda’s key ingredient -- cane sugar -- will be replaced with old-fashioned corn syrup.

But fear not, the Mexican bottler that exports Coke to the U.S. assures consumers the soda’s recipe won’t be tinkered with, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

The outcry began when news outlets such as Quartz reported that executives from Arca Continental, the Mexican bottler, suggested in an earnings call that it would move to use cheaper sweeteners after the Mexican government imposed a new tax on soda.

Other news sites followed suit and soon enough, social media was awash with consumers who said they would soon begin hoarding cases of Mexican Coke. (Sounds similar to the reaction some had when they heard Sriracha, another food product with a cult-like following, could be affected by a plant closure after a lawsuit.)

Arca Continental, however, clarified and said changes to how its pop is sweetened would occur only to soda sold in Mexico. Mexican sodamakers are reacting to a new law that’s aimed at reducing the obesity rate in the country, where nearly 33% of adults are overweight.

The tax -- a peso, or $0.08, per liter of soda -- is expected to affect sodamaker’s bottom lines, bottlers have said.

Mexicans are the world’s biggest soda guzzlers, drinking an average of 707 8-ounce servings per year, according to Beverage Digest. That’s roughly 44 gallons. Americans consume about 701 servings.

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