Coca-Cola to List Caffeine Content on All Beverages; To Develop Health & Beauty Beverage with L’Oréal

For the future, Coca-Cola North America, Atlanta, GA, has confirmed that, as part of an industry initiative, it will include caffeine content on all of its beverages containing the ingredient. The company has already included caffeine labeling on its Full Throttle and Enviga packaging, and will roll out the new labels on its other brands, starting with cans of Coca-Cola Classic in May, and expanding to other brands and packages during the remainder of the year. The time at which the revised labels reach store shelves will vary by brand and by region as U.S. bottlers use up existing inventories of packaging. The new packaging labels will provide the exact amount of caffeine in each serving. Coca-Cola emphasized that the inclusion of caffeine content information is an additional voluntary step taken by The Coca-Cola System. In 2005, Coca-Cola North America introduced labeling providing consumers with nutrition information for a standard eight-ounce serving as well as for the total of a single-serve package.

In other developments, Coca-Cola recently said it plans to partner with L’Oréal, New York, NY, to launch a health and beauty beverage, according to an article in Brandweek. The article said the new drink, currently called Lumaé, has been trademarked as a tea-based, ready-to-drink beverage by Coca-Cola’s Beverage Partners Worldwide (BPW) division and will contain ingredients that help women care for their skin. BPW is a joint venture between Nestlé and Coca-Cola, and the Brandweek article points out that Nestlé is a major shareholder in L’Oréal. Lumaé will accompany other recent functional beverage launches from Coca-Cola, including Minute Maid Active, which contains glucosamine HCL, and Minute Maid Multi-Vitamin, which contains 16 vitamins and minerals. Diet Coke Plus, laced with a variety of vitamins and minerals, is set to launch later this year.