PepsiCo cuts all ties to Gatorade.
According to the New York Daily News, the beverage company announced they will discontinue its limited line of Gatorade Naturals, due to lack of customer interest.
"[Through] engagement with athletes on their fueling needs, we found that Gatorade Naturals and G2 Naturals did not resonate with this core consumer," the Purchase, N.Y. company said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
Gatorade Naturals and G2 Naturals, which were sold at select Kroger and Whole Food stores, were discontinued this past November, a spokesman for PepsiCo said. The company stated Gatorade Naturals gave customers "the benefits of regular Gatorade while using ingredients like sea salt."
According to the AP, PepsiCo did not invest in marketing for the limited time drink, despite studies suggesting customers increase interest in consuming more "natural-based foods." In response to consumer feedback, Pepsi said that they would cease using a flame retardant in its regular Gatorade.
The ingredient, brominated vegetable oil (BVO), is a chemical containing bromine, which is found in fire retardants and when used in some citrus-flavored drinks to keep the flavor evenly distributed.
PepsiCo has been hit with multiple lawsuits over its use of the word natural. In 2013, a lawsuit filed caused Naked juice, named for its supposed stripped-down ingredients, to remove the "all natural" seal off its label. The company paid $9 million to settle a lawsuit, which claimed the vitamins used for the drink are actually synthetic ingredients including in a fiber made by Archer Daniels Midland.
The Food and Drug Administration does not have set regulations for what defines natural. Michele Simon, a public health lawyer and critic of the food industry's marketing practices stated there are numerous cases in which companies use of the word "natural" is often misunderstood.
