Does Diet Coke actually have the same amount of calories as regular
Coke?  I heard that Coca Cola was sued because Diet Coke has calories,
and fined money, but did not have to change its label?  Can anyone
chemically show that Diet Coke is calorie free?

---

Request for Question Clarification by thx1138-ga on 16 Jul 2003 12:40 PDT

Hello hauffbm and thank you for your question.

In direct answer to your question:
"Does Diet Coke actually have the same amount of calories as regular 
Coke?"  

The answer is no. 

"Q How many calories are in 'Coca-Cola'? 
A 'Coca-Cola' contains 41 calories per 100ml. 

Q How many calories are in 'diet Coke'? 
A 'diet Coke' contains 0.41 calories per 100ml." 
http://www.coca-cola.com.au/about_faq.asp

Or, to put it another way, diet Coke contains 100 times less calories
than regular Coca-Cola.

Are you sure the story you heard was about calories?

Best regards

THX1138

---

Clarification of Question by hauffbm-ga on 16 Jul 2003 14:13 PDT

Hello,

Here is my question in better words.

I have a friend who is trying to tell me that she remembers the Coca
Cola company getting sued about the calorie content of Diet Coke.  She
heard that Coke was sued, (by the FDA I believe) and was told to fix
the label showing Diet Coke does contain calories, or pay a large
fine.  Supposedly Coke paid the fine and continues to mislabel their
Diet Coke cans as having no calories, when in fact they contain just
as much as regular Coke.

I think that is a bunch of crap, Diet Coke contains Aspartame which
has essentially no calories.  I explained that to my friend and she
says she remembers the lawsuit.

I guess... Is there any record of this lawsuit?  Has anyone ever
chemically tested Diet Coke to show the calorie content?  How many
calories does Diet Coke contain?

Any info along those lines would be great.

Hi hauffbm-ga, 

No, there is no record on the FDA website of any type of recall or
enforcement report involving Diet Coke and its calorie content.  There
are however other recalls of specific manufacturing runs where the
wrong product was packaged in the wrong bottle.

For example –


---------------------------------
Caffeine Free Diet Coke, in 2 liter PET containers.
Recall #F-587-8/F-588-8.

RECALLED BY
Manufacturer verbally and by E-mail on July 31, 1998.  
Firm-initiated recall complete.

QUANTITY
14,557 cases were distributed.

REASON
Undeclared sugar - The product actually contains Caffeine Free
Coca-Cola Classic

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ENFORCE/ENF00552.html

-----------------------------

PRODUCT
Diet Coke in 2 liter plastic bottles. Recall #F-284-0.

RECALLED BY
Manufacturer, by E-mail on October 26, 1999, by press release issued
on
October 28, 1999, and by letter dated November 1, 1999. 
Firm-initiated
recall complete.

QUANTITY
7,995 cases (8 bottles per case) were distributed. 

REASON
Product is labeled as Diet Coke but actually contained Coca-Cola
Classic,
a regularly sweetened beverage.

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ENFORCE/ENF00638.html

------------------------------
PRODUCT
Diet Coke, in 12 fluid ounce cans, in 16 fluid ounce bottles, and in 2
liter bottles.  Recall #F-543-2.

REASON
Product contains saccharin and saccharin is not listed as an
ingredient.

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ENFORCE/ENF00172.html

------------------------------

In another case, a petition was brought against Coca Cola regarding
differences between their bottled Diet Coke and their Fountain
version.


" The subject matter of this petition is proposed remedial regulations
regarding products sold under the same brand name, but which contain
different ingredients in the non- labeled versions from the
ingredients listed in the labeled version. For example, bottled Diet
Coca-Cola lists that it is sweetened 100% with aspartame, while Diet
Coca-Cola, dispensed in a fountain format, is sweetened primarily with
saccharin. …..Primarily, it is sought to order Coca-Cola, and all
other manufacturers of products whose unlabelled versions’ ingredients
materially differ from the same branded product, to disclose this to
consumers on the labeled product, or otherwise effectively alert
consumers to the existence of such differences."

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/01/Aug01/082801/amd0001.pdf

-----------------------------------------

All other FDA recalls and enforcement reports involving Diet Coke

http://www.accessdata2.fda.gov/Google/fda_search.pl?q=coca+cola+%22diet+coke%22&client=fdagov&site=fdagov&searchselector=&restrict=&filter=0&start=0

------------------------------


The calorie content of each product that thx1138-ga gave you above, is
correct. As you can see, regular Coke has 100 times the calories as
Diet Coke. Diet Coke only contains .41 calories per 100 ml. This is
less than one-half of a calorie.

This means that Diet Coke does conform to the FDA labeling
requirements with regard to the term "No calories" or "calorie free"
----

From the FDA ---

b) Calorie content claims. (1) The terms ``calorie free,'' ``free of
calories,'' ``no calories,'' ``zero calories,'' ``without calories,''
``trivial source of calories,'' ``negligible source of calories,'' or
``dietarily insignificant source of calories'' may be used on the
label or in the labeling of foods, provided that:

    (i) The food contains less than 5 calories per reference amount
customarily consumed and per labeled serving.


FDA – CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS – FOOD LABELING 
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/CF101-60.HTML


-------------------------

And yes, the calorie content of Coke and Diet Coke has been measured.
All companies must provide proof to the FDA that their product
conforms to the labeling claims.

That should clear things up for you. I'm not sure what your friend
actually heard, but it wasn't that Diet Coke has as many calories as
regular Coke and it wasn't that Coca Cola was sued by the FDA for
calling its Diet Coke calorie-free when it wasn't.

Hope that helps you out!

Thanks for your question –

K~

Search terms:

FDA website :  Coca Cola "diet coke"
FDA definition no calories

You provided and excellent answer.  Thank you very much for your
research!  Kudos to you, I would recomment you to all other Googlers
seeking answers!