Pepsi Co is already a soft drink powerhouse with a global footprint. The soda maker has production outlets and sub brands in most countries around the world. Now Pepsi Co is expanding into the Russian juice market.

The multi national company is spending $1.4 billion on about 75% ownership of Russia's largest juice maker, JSC Lebedyansky. This deal doesn't include Lebedyansky's baby food or mineral water divisions. Nope, Pepsi just wants the juice, thanks.

The deal has to be be given regulatory clearances from the government and the current shareholders will have to approve the spin off of the two rejected divisions of the Russian company. Also, Pepsi Co will have to offer to buy the rest of the shares of Lebedyansky from shareholders, according to Russian law. Other than that, Pepsi is in the clear to expand into the growing juice market to its heart's content.

Of course, that headline makes it seem like I'm no longer sick. That's not the case at all. I'm still under the weather, though not nearly as bad as I was a few days ago.

I've been sick for the past week. It really wiped me out (which you can probably tell from my lack of posts here). If you haven't been sick this season yet, just wait, I'm sure it's coming. I know some people who had the throw 'n go (I hope that's self-explanatory), but I was "lucky" enough just to have a fever, body aches, chills, coughing, a scratchy throat and complete and utter exhaustion. So I spent most of the week just sitting on the couch, wrapped in a comforter, watching TV. And also trying to decide what the hell to eat or drink for the week. Just about everything I tried to eat or drink tasted funny.

After the jump, the four items I ate the most while sick, and the four I didn't/couldn't eat.

I'm not sure why this isn't just called National Soda Day or something similar, but I guess there are some carbonated, caffeinated beverages that aren't soda (?).

Since soda drinkers usually have their favorite sodas and don't usually stray away from it (I'm a Diet Pepsi guy after a long affair/distraction with Diet Coke), maybe we can take this day to try a carbonated, caffeinated beverage that we've never tried or maybe one we haven't had in years. I'm going to have some Dr Pepper and see if it still tastes like it did the last time I had it, during the Reagan administration I believe.

Following right in the footsteps of Coca Cola, Pepsico has just announced that they, too, will be adding caffeine content labels to their drinks. The labeling change comes conveniently at the same time as Pepsi is changing the look of their cans in general.

With two major beverage companies on board this new labeling trend, it sets the standard for other soft drink (or "sparkling beverage") manufacturers to add caffeine amounts to their packaging, as well as just to their ingredient lists. Making this information easily available draws attention to the fact that the FDA regulates the amount of caffeine that can be added to products (.02%), as well as to the fact that there are many groups that recommend an upper limit foe caffeine consumption per day The American Dietetic Association recommends no more than 300mg per day, for example.

We don't necessarily think that caffeine will become the next "hot" issue, as there is simply too much to worry about with foie gras and trans fats at the moment, but you never know...

Diet Coke is slightly higher in caffeine than regular Coke. Both are higher in caffeine than Pepsi, which has slightly more caffeine than Diet Pepsi. Either out of a desire to get consumers to sit up and take more notice of their brand, or simply as an attempt to jump on the energy drink bandwagon, Pepsi is rolling out a new, more caffeinated, diet "sparkling beverage." The new soda is called Diet Pepsi MAX.

Pepsi MAX is a diet soda that has been sold outside of the US for almost 15 years, so the fact that the name of the new drink is extremely redundant (a diet diet soda?) shouldn't be entirely confusing because US consumers aren't that familiar with it. The drink is sweetened with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame potassium, both artificial sweeteners, and will contain roughly 5.95 mg of caffeine per ounce of liquid. This puts at a much higher level than Diet Coke (3.8mg) and regular Diet Pepsi (3.0mg), and in the ballpark with Coca-Cola Blak (5.75mg) but not as high as Enviga (8.3mg), Red Bull (9.64mg) or coffee (13.44mg).

Diet Pepsi MAX is being targeted at 25-34 year olds and will hit stores in June

Fast food restaurants are all about convenience: the convenience of getting inexpensive food quickly and not having to cook. McDonald's, long the standard of fast food, has decided to consider making a move to an even more convenient format. Modeling their change on convenience stores, McDonald's is test marketing the concept of selling prepackaged drinks in their stores. The products include sodas, sports and energy drinks from Pepsi (even though McDonald's carries Coke in their soda fountains), such as Mountain Dew, Red Bull, Gatorade, Propel Water, Lipton tea and Tropicana juices, all of which are stocked in a large, convenience store-style refrigerated case.

According to a Morgan Stanley research report, 62% of consumers "said they would drink different beverage at quick service restaurants if given the choice." McDonald's says that it is too early to judge consumer response in their Texas and Kansas City test stores, but is considering expanding the offerings and the test markets if it is positive.

Super Bowl is the most-watched television program of the year. Last year alone, over 141 million viewers tuned in. The top ten most watched TV programs in history are all Super Bowl games. As a result, advertisers go all-out for their game-day spots, making the commercial breaks nearly as entertaining as the game.

There is a lot of competition to stand out from the crowd and grab the viewer's attention, so even though Pepsi is one of the biggest sponsors of the game, they will be giving away a one-of-a-kind Pepsi can that is sure to make people sit up and take notice. It is worth $100,000.

The can is encrusted with diamonds and is made of sterling silver. Anyone interested in entering the sweepstakes for a chance to win it can get a code online and wait to see if it is announced during the halftime show.

Pepsi is reworking their image and giving the look of their brand a total overhaul. The plan features a "360-degree marketing campaign", but the first thing that most consumers will notice is that their cans will look very different than before. Starting next month, the company will begin using more dramatic designs on their cans, bottles and branded cups and will be rotating the designs every few weeks to "reflect themes close to the hearts of teens and young adults." The theory is that younger consumers will be more interested in something more visually stimulating than their current design and that if there is a sports or music-themed can, a music fan might be more likely to purchase it. The logo itself will not change, but since Pepsi has only changed their can design 10 times in the 109 year history of the company, this new plan is quite a departure from tradition.

Also in pursuit of the drinking loyalties of the "millennial generation," the company will be running more contests, games and sweepstakes and will be sinking more money into merchandising (did you know that you can buy a Pepsi dress?) and advertising. Different contests and prize-winning opportunities will be associated with the different Pepsi products, giving consumers "different experience each time they buy a Pepsi" and "a passport to the things they enjoy most." Oh, and they'll be getting Pepsi, too.

It was almost a year ago that we were first introduced to the concept of scented packaging for food products, but ever since our first whiff, the idea has really taken off and the idea has hit the mainstream.

Scents are a way of setting a particular product or advertisement apart from the competition, forcing people to take notice before turning to something else. Just look at the bus station ad for the Milk Board, which was an extreme example, but clearly generated a lot of attention. In a crowded marketplace, this type of unavoidable advertising is just what some companies need.

Recent products to jump on the scented ad bandwagon include Kraft Jell-O and White Fudge Chips Ahoy, which got full-page scratch and sniff ads in People Magazine and Diet Pepsi Jazz, which has scented coupons and "store signs infused with the new soft drink's [fragrance]." LG even used chocolate-scents to market their new Chocolate phones, although it probably triggered a chocolate craving before one for mobile phones.

In India, the government is a little less subtle than other governments about their desire to prevent consumers from being exposed to products they deem to be unhealthy. New York, for example, is trying to get restaurants to list their calorie counts on their menus so that people can make an informed decision and choose (hopefully) the lower calorie item. Delhi , on the other hand, has decided to ask for schools and universities to ban sodas, citing sodas as an unhealthy form of junk food.

Coke, in a statement, said that the amount of Coke sold at universities and schools was very small and that they have been supporting campaigns that promote active lifestyles and sporting events in India.

Following India's attempt to get Coke and Pepsi to turn over their recipes to the government earlier this year, it is hard to believe that this is not a health-related move as much as a symbolic political one, trying to get back at the companies after their efforts were unsuccessful. This is especially true when you consider that "the country [has]some of the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the world" and some of the most extreme poverty.

In a bid to compete with Coca Cola's Odwalla line of smoothies and vitamin-fortified fruit drinks, which the company acquired in 2001, Pepsi has bought the company Naked Juice. Naked Juice offers a line of more than 20 different juices, juice blends and smoothies, all of which are 100% natural and free from added sugars, preservatives and artificial colorings. A privately held company, their annual revenue is about $150 million, which has led financial analysts to speculate Pepsi probably paid around $450 million for Naked Juice, although the terms of the sale were not disclosed. Naked Juice will benefit from this new partnership by gaining access to more retailers and a much bigger marketing department, which they will be able to take advantage of to promote their "super premium" juices, raising their brand awareness for health and wellness conscious consumers.

The Indian state of Kerala, along with several other states, implemented a ban on Coca Cola and Pepsi colas after the companies refused to reveal their recipes to the government. On Friday, the High Court ruled that the ban was illegal and immediately reversed it, saying "state government had no jurisdiction to impose a ban on the manufacture and sale of [those] products. Only the federal government can ban food products."

Coke, Pepsi and fans of the two brands lauded the decision, but the top elected official in the state said he would attempt to get the ruling overturned.

The New Delhi research group, the Center for Science and Environment, was the original driving force behind the ban and wanted it reinstated, though a spokesperson did say that, since a significant number of food products produced in India contain pesticides, that alone was not the reason they targeted the cola companies. It was "because they account for nearly 80 percent of India's $2 billion soft drink market."

At this time, it seems unlikely that the court's decision will be reversed.

While PepsiCo, along with its number one rival Coca-Cola, might be facing battles in India over the banning of its sodas, the company is relying on a slightly different segment of their business to fuel their overseas growth: potato chips.

They may seem trite here in the United States, but potato chips are easy to modify to local cultural cuisines. We may think Spicy Thai flavored Kettle Chips are exotic, but in the country of Thailand, Lay's, owned by PepsiCo, sells seaweed flavored potato chips. And its not just potato chips either, The seaweed flavor is on Doritos in Taiwan. Some of the other local flavors are:

• UK - Lamb and Mint flavor, Beef and Onion Flavor, Pickled Onion flavor, a puffed snack with Spicy Tandoori Masala flavor and Cool Yoghurt and Mint flavor
• India - The Chaat Street line reflects the flavors of street vendor snacks
• China - Cool Cucumber and Cool Lemon chips
• Brazil - Shrimp Cocktail flavor

The local flavors travel across boundaries, too. Lays "Mediterraneans," fried in olive oil with flavors like Feta cheese and Tomato and Basil, did well in South America. I just wish they'd sell some of those more interesting flavors here in the US.

The Indian state of Kerala has initiated a plan to ban Pepsi and Coke for having levels of pesticides above the permissible amount. The whole thing seems to be a campaign against the products, both of which are produced locally using the local water supply. Even Indian commentators are taking note and observing that perhaps the money that the Indian Center for Science and Environment (CSE) intends to spend fighting the cola companies would be better spent running "a campaign for clean water" and reducing the levels of pesticides in all instances.

According to the same source, the CSE's "conclusions were that Diet Pepsi contained 0.36 amounts of pesticide per parts per billion (ppb), as tested by the Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata, that Pepsi contained 0.09 and that this was below the limit prescribed for packaged water by the Ministry of Health."

Other sources verify that the levels found in the soft drinks were lower than the levels of pesticide found in tea and other food products, including eggs, apples, rice and milk. So why target Pepsi and Coke? The CSE says that they cannot compare apples - which are reported to have 30200 times the prescribed limit of pesticides, versus 28,040 times the limit in tea and only 24 times the limit for Pepsi - to sodas. But the companies make convenient scapegoats in a country that seems to have pollution issues in areas other than their sodas.

Imagine that you have been handed a large red snow cone or shaved ice on a hot day. As you take a bite, the first sensation is coolness, followed by a flavor that is somewhere between strawberry and cherry, with a faintly bubble-gum flavored aftertaste. Now, imagine that you take a swig of Pepsi immediate after taking the bite from the snow cone and you'll have a very good idea of what diet Pepsi Jazz Strawberries and Cream tastes like.

The soda is definitely more like that syrupy, artificial "strawberry" than like a real strawberry, but the new Pepsi flavor isn't bad at all, especially if you happen to like those red snow cones. As a point of comparison, the Dr Pepper Berries & Cream is a little bit more subtle, but both are interesting alternatives to the now standard cherry-vanilla colas, though it seems like both berry-flavored drinks are a little too sweet to be something you would reach for everyday.