The American Beverage Association’s (ABA) latest transparency initiative, GoodtoKnowFacts.org, was inspired by both consumers and the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda, ABA Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Merideth Potter told – News exclusively on the day of the website’s launch.
ABA — whose members include popular companies PepsiCo, Keurig Dr Pepper, and Coca-Cola Company — debuted the Good to Know transparency initiative on Tuesday, which provides consumers with a user-friendly resource to truly know and understand what is in the products they are using. The resource essentially places 140 beverage ingredients all in one place, so the customer can easily look into what they are consuming. Further, ABA emphasizes that they are here to offer just the facts — not opinions.
When asked what inspired this massive move of transparency, Potter said it was both the consumers and the MAHA agenda.
“You don’t get to be 100-year-old companies without putting your consumers and what they want and need at the center. And you know, we do a lot of listening to consumers,” Potter said, noting that the brands themselves have been very keen on what the customers want.
“It was clear that people want to know more about what’s in their beverages — their foods and beverages generally. And our consumers are smart. You know, we respect them and their ability to decide what’s right for themselves and their families. They just want more information about it, and we’re very confident in the safety of our beverages and their ingredients,” she said, explaining that this was an effort they were happy to pull together.
“I would say, first and foremost, led by consumers and their desire,” Potter said, explaining that the Trump administration also played a key role.
“And then secondly, as we’ve been working with the administration, it was an effort to align with their call for greater transparency. And so we hope the administration continues to see this as an industry willing to step up, do its part, do right by its consumers, and tackle these big challenges ahead of us,” she said.
Potter said ABA did a lot of previewing with the Trump administration, which was “very receptive.” It is easy to rally around the idea of giving consumers an easier way to decide what’s right for them, she continued, noting the Trump administration welcomed it.
She told – News that, while it is very early in the launch, they are paying attention and watching to see how consumers use this resource, including seeing which ingredients people are particularly curious about. She also noted that the website has a feature allowing users to flag them on any ingredient that is not already found in their database.
“We’re excited to see how people use it, and are certain we’ll make optimizations in the future as we go,” she said.
Overall, she said this is helpful to Americans across the board, adding that it has given her more confidence in her choices as a mom, noting that many of these ingredients have been reviewed thousands of times.
When asked if she believes other American industries will follow suit, Potter said she believes ABA’s Good to Know initiative serves as a good example of “how the private sector can lead.”
“This is industry saying we want our consumers to be confident, and we’re going to take real, serious, meaningful action to give them the information they need,” she said, explaining the significance of the strides ABA companies have taken in the realm of transparency, as well as with providing consumers with more choices for what they want.
“We hope others see this as a model that they can follow. We hope lawmakers and regulators see this as industry stepping up and doing the thing that, really, the private sector is well-positioned to do,” she said. “We’re proud of it, and we hope others join in.”
