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posted by martyb on Friday September 08 2017, @10:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the How-sweet-it-is! dept.

Coca-Cola is using the HeroX crowd-sourcing platform to hold a $1 million competition for a new sugar substitute:

"Sugar is now the number one item that consumers want to avoid in their diets," says Darren Seifer, a food and beverage industry analyst with the NPD Group. The message to consume less is coming from health experts around the globe.

It's a challenge for the beverage industry, as is the fact that many consumers don't like the idea of artificial sweeteners found in diet drinks. So, the search for new, alternative sweeteners that can appeal to consumers' changing tastes is in full swing. And Coca-Cola has turned to crowd-sourcing.

The company has launched a competition on the crowd-sourcing platform HeroX. According to this description on Coca-Cola's corporate website, Coke is seeking "a naturally sourced, safe, low- or no-calorie compound that creates the taste sensation of sugar when used in beverages." The company says, "one grand prize winner will be awarded $1 million in October 2018."

So, can scientists come up with this kind of sweetener? "Well, this is a hundred-million dollar question, because it's so difficult and so potentially lucrative," says Paul Breslin, a professor in the nutritional sciences department at Rutgers University and a member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Hang on, is it a one million dollar question or a hundred-million dollar question? Maybe I should get Silicon Valley to fund my sugar substitute instead of Coca-Cola.

Related: Coca-Cola Pulls Twitter Campaign after being Tricked into Quoting "Mein Kampf"
Twitter Monetizes By Adding Coca-Cola Emoji (where is our sponsored emoji?)
How Coca Cola's 3D Times Square Advertising Sign Works


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @11:27AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @11:27AM (#565021)

    But if you did that, you would have to sell something with a taste.
    That might require actual food ingredients. Supersweet is good because it covers up and dominates all the other flavors...
    Sugar is cheap!

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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday September 08 2017, @12:18PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday September 08 2017, @12:18PM (#565033) Journal

    But if you did that, you would have to sell something with a taste.

    Mmmm... i would think some flat water from Fukushima springs will qualify

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 2) by epitaxial on Friday September 08 2017, @07:20PM

    by epitaxial (3165) on Friday September 08 2017, @07:20PM (#565265)

    You mean high fructose corn syrup is cheap. Your body processes HFCS differently than sugar.