With consumers now paying more for non-alcoholic sweetened beverages, manufacturers are being urged to pivot by reformulating their products to provide consumers with more affordable and healthier options while maintaining taste profiles.

This call is coming from executive director of the Scientific Research Council, Dr Charah Watson, who says the SRC is willing to work with manufacturers to help them meet the new sugar regulations without compromising on customer experience.

“We’re supporting manufacturers in helping them to reformulate, identify appropriate alternatives and do the necessary quality tests. We can also assist them in doing the sensory evaluation with their intended market so, as they reformulate, we can actually assess how the consumer is responding to what they’re recrafting their products to be,” Watson told Observer Online.