But with so many minerals then packed into the drink, the biggest difficulty, according to Patel, was finding the right flavors to counteract the "liquid vitamins" taste of the early prototypes. The peach flavored drink and its tropical blend counterparts proved fairly easy to formulate, but the strawberry banana version was particularly challenging. Patel said her team mixed at least 180 combinations to create a product that both smelled and tasted like strawberries mixed with bananas.
Just about right
"We have to identify the right levels. It's 0.02 percent or 0.01 percent in each bottle," said Patel, who is credited with some some of Snapple's best-selling products, including Peach Iced Tea, Snapple Apple juice and WhipperSnapple. "If you overdo it, it's perfumy and can cause a burn. If you don't have enough flavor, then you wonder what's in the product."
On Monday, even as mass quantities were already being produced in factories. the scientists were still mixing new concoctions.
"It's just constant monitoring week-to-week, day-to-day; especially if it's a new product we kind of baby it to check to make sure nothing is going off," said Patel.
Once the base and flavors were settled upon, Patel's team conducted stability tests to see how the product would hold up in a variety of storage conditions. To stimulate a beverage warehouse on a hot summer day in Georgia, the scientists put their new beverages into an oven. They also checked Snapple-a-Day's performance over six-month long periods at room temperatures and in the refrigerator. The final test, however, occurred when Patel poured herself a glass of Snapple-a-Day on ice.
Snapple-a-Day will sell for US$1.59 each, which is more expensive than Slim-Fast, but unlike a lot of diet products it will be available in single servings in corner stores.
But some nutritionists warn that consumers looking to lose weight or eat healthier foods should be wary of any meal substitute.
"This is a vitamin supplemented soft drink," said Marion Nestle, the chairwoman of the Department of Food Studies at New York University and the author of Food Politics. "It's the equivalent of a candy bar. It's got an ounce of sugars in it. You bet it's not for dieters. It's got 200 calories of which most of them come from sugars. If I were going to advise someone to diet, the first thing I would do would be to tell them to cut out stuff like this."
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