In the 1980s, Coca-Cola did a lot of experimenting. New variants such as New Coke and Cherry Coke took a toll on the company, and cost-cutting followed. One major change was the removal of cane sugar from its trademark recipe. In 1984, Coca-Cola switched the sweetener in its signature drink to high-fructose corn syrup in the United States. This is all changing 41 years later.
In early 2025, after urgent pushing from the Trump Administration, Coca-Cola announced cane sugar would return to American markets after being imported from Mexico for nearly four decades. Known as “Mexican Coke,” the drink comes in an iconic green bottle and is sweetened with the original cane sugar recipe.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. celebrated the change on social media as a new health reform in the Trump Administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. However, some health experts say the change from high fructose corn syrup to cane sugar isn’t much of a health change at all.
Juliana Cohen, adjunct professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says this change is similar to “putting a filter in a cigarette.” She also said, “It doesn’t automatically make it a health food. It’s still going to be 39 grams of ultra-processed sugar.”
Southern Miss is a campus enriched in Coca-Cola, with all vending machines on campus serving Coke products, as well as many Coke sponsors. This is attributed to Hattiesburg’s role in bottling and distributing Coca-Cola Products for the last 119 years. But USM students are not feeling the hype behind this other variant.
When presented with a corn syrup Coke and a Mexican cane sugar Coke, USM student Brandon Thomas says, “It just tastes like a Coke. It is a little bit sweeter in the glass, but towards the end, its just a plain Coke.”
The initial release of domestically made cane sugar Coke is rolling out in select markets across the United States this week. This will be just a variant of the recipe, as the trial run will determine if Coca-Cola will profit on the change.
If it is a success, this variant should hit Hattiesburg shelves by 2026.
