Aspartame-free Diet Pepsi - the biggest change in 30 years - hits US shelves

New York

DIET Pepsi made without aspartame is scheduled to hit shelves across the US on Monday, marking the biggest change to the beverage in three decades.

PepsiCo Inc, facing declining Diet Pepsi sales amid a customer backlash against the controversial sweetener, started reformulating the recipe about two years ago. Keeping the taste mostly unchanged was difficult, said Seth Kaufman, a senior vice-president at Pepsi who oversaw the project. "The mouth-feel had to be in line with what consumers expect when they get that silver can," Mr Kaufman said. "We obviously wanted to do it in the context of a phenomenal-tasting Diet Pepsi that our consumers will know and love because it's very similar to the Diet Pepsi they've been drinking."