The nation’s largest soft drink companies will add QR codes to their beverage bottles and cans that link to an industry group’s “ingredient transparency” website, the companies announced this week.
The American Beverage Association said Monday that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Keurig Dr Pepper have already started updating their packaging and would have the QR codes in places across “all beverage portfolios” by the end of next year.
The codes, when scanned by a smartphone, take the user to GoodtoKnowFacts.org, a website developed by the ABA. The site enables users to search or browse for over 140 ingredients in the companies’ drinks; individual ingredient websites show brief assessments of them by the FDA, the European Commission, Health Canada and other agencies.
The ABA said that the database contains “no industry research, no industry positions and no industry recommendations,” although many of the assessments simply say, “Safe for intended uses.”
“Consumers want greater transparency and deserve to have confidence in the safety of their foods and beverages,” ABA President and CEO Kevin Keane said in a statement.
