Coke confirms 'Southampton Six' free Powerade Cherry launch by 2012 end

Coca-Cola insists it will launch a 'Southampton Colour' free version of Powerade Cherry - its only retail product still to contain the controversial colourings - by the end of the 2012.

BeverageDaily.com broke the news yesterday that Coca-Cola Great Britain had phased out the controversial food colourings in most of its products by 2011, but had reintroduced them in a system it was trialling with Burger King, while the company admitted they were still used in Powerade Cherry.

A spokeswoman said: "“We phased out the majority of Southampton colours that were in our drinks in 2011. However we have been unable to find a viable alternative for Powerade Cherry [pictured below] but we continue to look for alternative colours for this product that meet our stringent requirements.”*

But a Coca-Cola spokeswoman told BeverageDaily.com today: "We can confirm we have found a viable alternative for Powerade Cherry and will launch a Southampton Colour free version before the end of the year."