Pepsi Sues Distributor for Selling Mexican Pepsi in America

No Cane Sugar for You, No Cane Sugar for US

Pepsi is really serious about not letting people in the US taste the cane sugar version of their soda, except in very explicit conditions.    Pepsi is suing Clayton Distributing, a distributor in Atlanta, Georgia, for selling Mexican Pepsi.  PepsiCo alleges that Clayton Distributing, “violated trademark laws, committed fraud and engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices by distributing Mexican Pepsi in the United States.”  Really, I think they don’t want people to have regular access to Pepsi products made with cane sugar as opposed to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  Thanks to subsidies, HFCS is cheaper for making America’s soda, but the Mexican government has adopted policies that promote the use of cane sugar. 

Whatever the actual motives of PepsiCo, it (allegedly) remains that Mexican labels do not comply with the FDA or PepsiCo’s standards for the United States.  “The Mexican product is neither authorized nor intended for exportation out of Mexico,” explained in its lawsuit filing (link).  I wonder what those standards are and why they are different.  It doesn’t make sense that PepsiCo would have lesser standards for water quality across the border.  So, maybe the fuss is really just the sugar content difference.

In any case, it seems like until HFCS is pricier than cane sugar, Mexican Pepsi will remain an elusive dream to the many soda beverage connoisseurs.

January 7, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Politics

One Response

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