Coca-Cola settles lawsuits over benzene
Fanta Pineapple, Vault Zero had ingredients that could form substance
The Associated Press
May 14, 2007

ATLANTA – The Coca-Cola Co. has agreed to offer replacements to people who purchased two soft drinks to settle lawsuits over ingredients that can form cancer-causing benzene, the plaintiffs said Monday.

… The lawsuits alleged that ingredients in Fanta Pineapple and Vault Zero had the potential in certain circumstances to combine to form benzene, and asserted claims for breach of warranty, unfair and deceptive trade practices and unjust enrichment.

…Coca-Cola began production of Vault Zero in February 2006 and has sold roughly 7.7 million individual units from that time through December 2006. From January 2003 through August 2006, it sold roughly 27.4 million individual units of Fanta Pineapple, according to the settlement papers.

It changed the formulation of the two products on or about Sept. 1, 2006, the settlement papers say.

Benzene can form in soft drinks containing vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, and either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate. Scientists say factors such as heat or light exposure can trigger a reaction that forms benzene in the beverages.

Coca-Cola will no longer sell the two products in question with both sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid as ingredients.

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With Red Blitz, Coke has its eyes set on one product, Mountain Dew Code Red. Not since Mello Yello Cherry have they had a high octane cherry beverage to go against Pepsi's market leader.

Officially described on the bottle as "berry injected artificially flavored hybrid energy soda", Vault Red Blitz looks and smells like Mountain Dew Code Red. Very similar to cherry Kool-Aid, actually.

Drinking it was rather disappointing, actually. When I first drank Vault, I didn't really think it was that good. I mentioned that the "drink flavor is there… and then it just stops…. The flavor was less citrus-y than Mello Yello, but still tolerable… Nice try Coke, but you'll never beat Mountain Dew with this product."

Since my original October 2005 review, however, Vault has somewhat grown on me. Overall, it's not as acidic and "biting" as Mountain Dew, which I kinda like. It's more mellow, but still has similar properties. When you drink Red Blitz, you get the same feeling. You can definitely tell that it's Vault. However, if I was blindfolded, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between regular citrus Vault and Vault Red Blitz. The berry flavor is substantially weak.

All the reports and marketing response show that Vault is gaining traction in the marketplace. Should Pepsi be worried? Not yet. But Coke seems to be onto something here… and they are putting their full resources behind it to make sure it succeeds.

This from VaultKicks.org blog:

Vault Red Blitz – Coming March 2007!

VAULT RED BLITZ is a powerful new addition to the VAULT hybrid energy soda line that DRINKS LIKE A SODA, KICKS LIKE AN ENERGY DRINK™.

(Source: VaultKicks.org)

Available in March 2007, Berry injected VAULT RED BLITZ is for guys with a Get To It™ mentality. Like all VAULT products, RED BLITZ takes taste, refreshment and energy kick to the next level.

(Source: VaultKicks.org)

It looks like Coke has some serious plans for it, as a "Vault Zero" drink as been spotted via sightings around the country.. So Diet Mountain Dew seems to be part of the battle now as well.

The Zero branding is consistent with Coke's other new diet products… Coke Zero and Diet Sprite Zero.

It's been important for Coke to keep trying to chip away at Pepsi's Mountain Dew brand. According to Beverage Digest, "over the first nine months of 2004, Mountain Dew was the only major non-diet brand that grew in sales. In 2003, Americans bought 638.7 million cases of Mountain Dew, making it the fourth-most-popular brand in the country."

Thanks to my friend Eric Childs, who lives in Michigan, I was able to personally experience Vault. He provided me with a bottle over this past weekend. I had read what others were saying about the drink, and even checked out his own review, but I was anxious to try this myself.

This review also inaugurates the new Tannerman "beverage review tree", given that Amy and I are now living at a new location. But I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for that first beverage review tree.

But I digress. Let's talk about Vault!

The packaging is very attractive, with a plastic bottle the resembles that which you might find with Gatorade. The bottle itself is imprinted with Vault's "V" logo. Vault proclaims on the label that it "drinks like a soda, kicks like an energy drink." Believe it or not, that awkward phrase is actually trademarked by Coke. Whatever. I like the green/yellow/black color scheme quite a bit, and the Vault logo is simple, yet effective.

Upon opening the cap, I took a whiff of the beverage. The first scent I could correlate it to was that cheap orange drink that McDonald's provides to non-profits. I know I've have my share of that stuff from church events growing up. And frankly, it always tasted watered down and lame, which didn't bode well for my mental judgment of Vault.

The taste? Sweet, somewhat like Mountain Dew, but not quite. There really wasn't much of an aftertaste. It's like the drink flavor is there… and then it just stops. And I couldn't get that McDonald's Orange Drink scent out of my head. The flavor was less citrus-y than Mello Yello, but still tolerable. Overall, there was quite a bit of fakeness in the taste. On the plus side, the drink doesn't make you belch too much. Also, for those looking at staying awake, you'll be happy to know that Vault has 70.5 mg of caffeine per 12 oz. serving (compared to 55.0 mg for Mountain Dew). Yikes!

Overall impression? Nice try Coke, but you'll never beat Mountain Dew with this product.

Coke might launch a Mountain Dew-like drink called Vault, the newsletter Beverage Digest reported Friday. Vault would be a successor to Coke's failed Surge, a Mountain Dew wannabe that debuted in 1997 only to virtually disappear by the fall of 2002.

Over the first nine months of 2004, Mountain Dew was the only major non-diet brand that grew in sales. In 2003, Americans bought 638.7 million cases of Mountain Dew, making it the fourth-most-popular brand in the country.

Pepsi expressed little concern about the possibility of another Mountain Dew-ish product from Coke. "We've seen this movie before, and it's a horror show," declared spokesman Dave DeCecco. "No one else can do the Dew."