What the Reuters article, and really none of the other websites that picked this story up today have mentioned is this: Capri-Sun used to be made with sugar. Its original formula contained sugar, not HFCS. During the early 2000s, the formula switched to HFCS (and Capri-Sun endured a lawsuit in 2007 for labeling HFCS “all natural.”)
Sometime after that, Capri-Sun was again made with sugar. I purchased a lot of it for my kids’ school lunches, day camps, sports and scout activities.
In 2011, Capri-Sun inexplicably switched back to high-fructose corn syrup. At that time, many of my readers noticed the ingredients switch on the label, and any time I looked for Capri-Sun, I’d dig through the boxes on the shelves to find the old stock made with sugar.
By 2012, all the Capri-Sun on the shelves was made with HFCS. I haven’t bought a single blue box of Capri-Sun since the switch.
I wish any of the news agencies reporting on this had asked Kraft why they switched to HFCS from sugar in the first place — and with the repeated shifts back and forth from sugar to HFCS to sugar again, whether or not this switch would be a permanent one.
The Reuters story also notes that the Roaring Waters varieties of Capri-Sun will soon be sweetened with stevia instead of sucralose to please a more health-conscious consumer. I’m all for this too — I’ve never let my kids drink the Roaring Waters due to the sucralose content.
SSMark1 says
For family parties at our home, we usually only buy naturally sweetened juice boxes/pouches for the kids.
I’m glad to see vitamin S is back in Capri Sun!
When Dominick’s was closing in 2013, I bought a TON of the organic drinks at 75% off.
We ran out of those last year.
I bring the extra drink pouches to work after family parties…I drink them. I don’t drink coffee.
I almost always have food or candy available at work for the team to take (and yes, I get a lot of visitors during the day.)
And when I bring in the pouches, they seem to disappear VERY fast…and there are no kids in the building. :*)
Many people, including me, like that mid afternoon snack.
I’m always saying I need a vitamin S (meaning sugar) fix.
I never have any fake sugar diet food at home or the office.
The pouches will be back again soon! Yay!!!
-Mark
dancingwolves says
vs. Stevia and other artificial sweetners? I am still learning all the differences.