The worst fears of Diet Pepsi drinkers may not be realized after all. The classic diet drink, which is being reformulated this summer, will be available to purchase online.
"For those consumers who still love Diet Pepsi with aspartame, we'll figure out how to make it available online,” said PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi in a Thursday conference call.
PepsiCo previously said that the new Diet Pepsi may have a "slightly different mouthfeel” when it drops aspartame this summer, The Associated Press reports.
Pepsico's flagship diet soda is switching its sweetener to sucralose, a sugar-derived artificial sweetener first popularized by the Splenda brand in 1999.
PepsiCo is removing aspartame due to consumer concerns about its safety. However, both the Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Authority have said consumption of aspartame is safe for humans.
Aspartame in the body breaks down into two amino acids (aspartic acid and phenylalanine) and methanol, which are found in larger amounts in common foods, the FDA said.