‘Something Old, Something New’ Theme of Pepsi and Coke Cola War
What shapes up as the endless war between the cola giants continues at a brisk pace as Coca-Cola heavily promotes new Coke against old Pepsi. The principals in the multimillion-dollar battle got an indication of their success a few weeks ago when Vons supermarkets offered coupons for either cola at 68 cents per six-pack, a substantial savings.
In addition to the coupon, Vons shoppers in most stores were offered a taste of both Pepsi and the newly reformulated Coke before making the purchase.
The anxiously awaited results of this admittedly unscientific survey of taste preferences are in: Coke is the easy winner with 454,865 coupons redeemed to Pepsi’s 332,316 coupons, according to a Vons spokesman.
There was one slight advantage that may have helped increase Coke’s healthy margin. The same week that Vons ran its discount coupons for the two colas, Coke also offered a 25-cent discount coupon off any of its six-packs.
Therefore, an enterprising shopper could have come to Vons with the store’s coupon for a 68-cent six-pack, Coke’s 25-cents off coupon and a double coupon. The price for the Coke six-pack would then have been an especially economical 18 cents, or 3 cents per can.
Food Poisoning--A mysterious bacteria that affected more than 100 people in Minnesota, resulting in severe cases of diarrhea, has been linked to raw milk. Local and federal health officials were unable to isolate the exact parasite or bacteria that caused the illnesses and dubbed the problem “Brainerd diarrhea,” after the town where most of the cases surfaced.
The only common association among those who suffered from the diarrhea, which lasted as long as four weeks, was that they purchased raw milk from a local dairy, according to California Morbidity, a weekly newsletter from the California Department of Health Services.
The outbreak began in December, 1983, and continued through July, 1984. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control were brought in to assist Minnesota health officers with the investigation.
Some of the peculiarities of the mysterious Brainerd diarrhea were a 15-day incubation period after the milk was ingested before the sickness began, its unremitting character and that 70% of those stricken continue to experience problems with diarrhea a year after first contracting the illness, the report stated.
“CDC has not identified any pathogenic enteric (intestinal) bacterial, parasitic, fungous, mycobacterial, viral or toxic agent (in those with Brainerd diarrhea). Likewise, studies of the raw milk itself failed to yield a suspect agent,” according to California Morbidity.
Despite being unable to locate a familiar bacterial or toxic agent, the health officials involved still reported that the outbreak could be linked to an identifiable source. The medical team that studied the problem interviewed those with the illness and pieced together food histories and activities that led them to conclude that a local dairy was involved.
“The only statistically significant risk factor from this study was drinking raw milk from a particular local dairy. The dairy farm voluntarily stopped selling raw milk when this association was found. No cases were subsequently identified with onset of illness more than two weeks after suspension of sales,” the newsletter stated.
There have been no other cases of Brainerd diarrhea isolated since the Minnesota episode ran its course. The absence of cases, in either Minnesota or elsewhere, was attributed to the fact that physicians most likely diagnose the the problem as simply chronic diarrhea.
Dairies’ Futures--A recent survey of the various segments of the dairy industry found that some categories will experience significant sales growth in the next three years. In particular, cheese will post the most substantial increases, according to Frost & Sullivan Inc., a New York research firm.
“Americans will be eating 30% more cheese by 1988, as eating habits shift toward snacks, ethnic foods such as Mexican and fast foods such as pizza,” the report stated.
The company predicts that sales of cheese will exceed $11 billion within the new few years, up from 1984’s $8.8 billion figure. The study found that Americans are not as fond of their cheese namesake as other varieties. For instance, Cheddar is the most popular cheese sold in the United States, with 49% of market share, followed by mozzarella with 18%, American cheese with 12% and other Italian styles with 7%.
On the other hand, milk will not fare as well as cheese in the coming years. Frost & Sullivan offers no hope that declining per capita consumption will improve from its 1983 total of 239 pounds per person.
Whey, the waste byproduct of the cheese-making process, will experience greater usage by 1988. Most of this growth will occur in processed and packaged food areas where whey is used in bakery products, prepared mixes, soups, margarine and processed meats, the research firm predicts.
Probably the most interesting item to surface in the Frost & Sullivan study is the percentage of milk sold in this country that is still delivered to homes. In 1963, 30% of all milk distributed was home delivered. Today that figure is a mere 2%.
Wine Clears Air--Apparently, changing consumer tastes can bring unexpected environmental benefits. In this case, the air quality of the San Joaquin Valley has improved in terms of ethanol emissions because of the greater demand for white wine.
California Farmer magazine recently reported that the cleaner air is due to the fact that “less ethanol evaporates during the fermentation of white wine than red. Ethanol emissions are now down to half the 1977 level.”
