PepsiCo adopts stricter, greener rules for palm oil in products

KUALA LUMPUR - US food and drink giant PepsiCo Inc said on Tuesday it would introduce stricter rules for the palm oil used in its goods - including a retrospective ban on working with firms linked to deforestation - and enforce them for its business partners.

In a first for the consumer goods industry, the tighter policies would apply to companies in joint ventures with PepsiCo like Indonesian food maker Indofood, forest experts said.

Palm oil is the world's most widely used edible oil, found in everything from margarine to breakfast cereals and soap.

But its production has faced scrutiny in recent years from green activists and consumers who have blamed it for forest loss, fires and worker exploitation.

Under PepsiCo's new policy, the major international buyer of palm oil has strengthened its commitments to protect, restore and monitor forests and peatlands.

It has pledged not to purchase palm oil from any direct or indirect supplier involved in deforestation over the last four years.

The multinational will also launch initiatives to stop human rights abuses among plantation workers on the ground.

A 2019 investigation by green group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) revealed palm oil from an illegal plantation in an Indonesian rainforest home to endangered orangutans had found its way into the supply chains of major brands including PepsiCo.

Besides nurturing biodiversity, forests are regarded as key to efforts to curb climate change as they store planet-warming carbon.

RAN, which has highlighted issues with palm oil sourcing by major snack food companies since 2013, was involved in shaping PepsiCo's new policy.

While other consumer goods firms have applied similar pledges to their palm oil suppliers, PepsiCo is the first major brand to extend the policy to its business partners and all other firms in its partners' groups, said Robin Averbeck, RAN's agribusiness campaign director.

This means any company that makes PepsiCo products using palm oil, as well as plantation firms in the same group -anywhere in the world - must also comply, she said.

PepsiCo's new policy positions it as a "front-runner in the industry", said Averbeck.

PepsiCo said in an emailed statement its goal was to ensure that "all our palm oil is free from deforestation, new development on peatlands, and exploitation of people".

"These updates to our policy and approach reflect our ongoing determination to have a positive impact through additional actions that contribute to a sustainable palm oil system by working with peers, suppliers, civil society and others," it added.

Indofood did not respond to requests for comment.

After becoming a target of high-profile campaigns against tropical forest loss, global household brands that buy and use palm oil agreed in 2010 to ensure their supplies did not contribute to deforestation within a decade.

But backers of the non-binding commitment, which include PepsiCo, have struggled to meet it, as it left implementation to individual companies and lacked a clear reporting process, said a consumer goods body grouping those firms.

Brands and major buyers have also been criticized by industry officials and environmental activists for not buying larger amounts of palm oil certified as green and ethical.

PepsiCo's stipulation that its palm oil suppliers and business partners should have no link to deforestation since the end of 2015 could be retrospectively checked through satellite monitoring, Averbeck said.

She urged PepsiCo to disclose publicly all grievances linked to its agricultural supply chain, adding that the roll-out of the new rules should be verified independently.

"If they are implemented and it brings other actors along with them, it could have an enormous impact on the industry," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 

(Reporting by Michael Taylor @MickSTaylor; Editing by Megan Rowling. Thomson Reuters Foundation)

Pepsi to manufacture Cheetos, Lay's in PH

MANILA  - Listed beverage and snacks maker Pepsi Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI) eyes hitting about $1 billion in retail sales revenues this year, as it makes its first foray into snacks manufacturing in the country.

PCPPI will manufacture the popular Cheetos and Lay's snacks in the Philippines, only its second in Asia after Bangladesh at its just inaugurated P500-million Cabuyao, Laguna facility.

This reflects PepsiCo's ongoing drive to ensure the integration of its food and beverage portfolio across multiple platforms, including manufacturing and go-to-market execution.

Sanjeev Chadha, Pepsi's chief executive officer for Asia, Middle East and North Africa, said the seamless production of beverages and food will help PepsiCo grow in the increasingly important snacks market by three times in 10 years.

"We are delighted with this opportunity to produce internationally-renowned snacks products for the Philippine market, as we move towards our vision of becoming a premier food and beverage company in the Philippines," said Furqan Ahmed Syed, president of PCPPI.

The local snacks market is increasingly competitive, with Universal Robina Corp., makers of Jack n Jill, and Liwayway Marketing Corp., makers of Clover and Oishi brands.

In May last year, PCPPI announced it would make and distribute a range of PepsiCo's popular snack products and flavors to the Philippines' 100 million consumers.

"We're pleased to share the exciting variants of Cheetos at affordable price points and within reach of the snack-loving Filipino consumers," Jika Dalupan, PCPPI vice president for corporate affairs and communications added.

For January-September 2015, Pepsi said profit rose driven by strong demand for its beverages. These include the flagship Pepsi-Cola as well as 7Up, Gatorade and Tropicana.

Net income during the nine-month period hit P706.35 million, up 14 percent while revenues during the period also rose 7.8 percent to P23.68 billion.

Income for the third quarter alone stood at P146 million, up 5.1 percent.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Pepsi secures P1-B loan from Metrobank

MANILA, Philippines - Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines is borrowing P1-billion from Metrobank to fund its expansion plans this year.

In a disclosure, Pepsi chief financial officer Imran Moid says the loan will increase its manufacturing capacity to support its growth momentum.

Pepsi plans to increase its capital expenditure by 15% this year.

The company recently announced its entry into the powdered juice drinks category via its flagship brand Mirinda. - ANC Business Nightly

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Pepsi to launch its first powdered juice drink in PH

MANILA, Philippines - Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. on Wednesday announced its entry into the powdered juice drinks category.

The local unit of global soft drinks giant Pepsi Co. said in a statement it will start selling Mirinda Powder Fun Mix, an orange-flavored juice powder.

"We are excited at the opportunity to provide variety to our consumers," Partho Chakrabarti, president at PCPPI, said in the statement.

"Though this is our first foray into the powdered juice drinks category, we are confident that Mirinda Powder Fun Mix will be well-received, similar to our product innovations in the past," Chakrabarti continued.

PCPPI manufactures and sells Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, 7-Up, Mirinda, Mug, Gatorade, Tropina, Lipton, Sting, and Premier in the domestic market.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Pepsi Case Shows How The Internet Is Ruining Promo Contests

Pepsi might want to rethink how it handles online promotions.

The soda giant was publicly condemned by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after it refused to pay members of one family tens of thousands of pounds after they entered an a promotional contest over 11,000 times and won

Essentially, Pepsi MAX ran a six week promo in which it gave away £500 every hour to consumers who entered a four-digit barcode online (or texted it in).

The complainants entered the contest between 35 and 500 times per hour by creating slightly varying e-mail accounts.

Although they won hundreds of times and were notified via email that they would be contacted by a Pepsi official (to confirm that the email addresses were genuine) to collect the prize, Pepsi refused to pay but one £500 prize to each member of the family. The company claims they broke rules stating, "There is a limit of one entry per mobile phone number/email address per hourly prize draw. Only one code can be entered at a time. No bulk, consumer group, third party or agent entries will be valid."

According to the ASA, "PepsiCo said they did not know the exact mechanism that had been used to make such a high number of entries; however, it appeared a robot had been used. They said it was difficult to see how any individual could complete the form manually so many times and although they did not know the mechanism that had been used, bulk entries were not valid and the entries were considered to be bulk."

But the family feels cheated, and the ASA says they have a right to.

Even though multiple emails were not "within the spirit of the promotion," the ASA's condemning report said, "We considered significant conditions of the promotion were not made sufficiently clear and that, because unnecessary disappointment had been caused, the promotion had not been administered fairly."

Pepsi isn't shelling out the extra prize money, and the ASA can't make it, but the watchdog has warned it not to do a similar contest in the future.

This might mark the beginning of the end of these kinds of marketing campaigns.

source: businessinsider.com

Regulators clear Coke, Pepsi of cancer link

US regulators said soft drinks from PepsiCo Inc and Coca-Cola Co posed no cancer risk, contrary to a watchdog group that reported several popular brands contain high levels of a chemical linked to cancer in animals.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) said it found unsafe levels of a chemical used to make caramel color in cans of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc's Dr. Pepper, and Whole Foods' 365 Cola.

The group asked the Food and Drug Administration to ban caramel coloring agents that contain the chemical known as 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI. This follows a similar plea last year.

"Coke and Pepsi, with the acquiescence of the FDA, are needlessly exposing millions of Americans to a chemical that causes cancer," said CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson. "If companies can make brown food coloring that is carcinogen-free, the industry should use that."

The FDA said it is reviewing the group's petition, but that the drinks were still safe.

"A consumer would have to consume well over a thousand cans of soda a day to reach the doses administered in the studies that have shown links to cancer in rodents," said Doug Karas, an FDA spokesman, in a statement.

The cans were all taken from stores in the Washington, DC area, and some had levels of 4-MI near 140 micrograms in each 12-ounce can, the watchdog group said. The state of California has a legal limit of 29 micrograms of 4-MI, it added.

However, the group said a bigger health risk came from high-fructose corn syrup, which is used to sweeten soda and can contribute to diabetes.

The FDA's limit for 4-MI in caramel coloring is 250 parts per million (ppm). That caramel would then be diluted when it is put in soda. The highest levels of 4-MI found by CSPI were about 0.4 ppm, according to Reuters calculations.

"This is nothing more than CSPI scare tactics," the American Beverage Association said in a statement. "In fact, findings of regulatory agencies worldwide ... consider caramel coloring safe for use in foods and beverages."

source: interaksyon.com