limca

Source: Coca-Cola

Limca is made with natural and artificial flavourings

Coca-Cola looks to be preparing for a UK launch of Limca, its cloudy lemonade brand from India.

The US giant registered the 48-year-old soda’s name last month with the Intellectual Property Office under class 32, which covers soft drinks.

The lemon & lime-flavoured Limca made its debut in 1971 in India, which remains its largest market – though it is also available in some parts of the US.

Packed in a variety of formats, Limca is made with natural and artificial flavourings. Each 100ml contains 44 calories and 11g of sugar. By comparison, the UK version of Coca-Cola’s similarly flavoured Sprite has 14kcals and 3.3g of sugar per 100ml, and no artificial flavouring.

The original Limca recipe included brominated vegetable oil (BVO) – the primary use of which is to help emulsify citrus-flavoured soft drinks. However, the formula was changed in the late 1980s following reports that excessive consumption of BVO could lead to health issues such as memory fatigue and loss of muscle co-ordination.

Coca-Cola declined to comment on Limca’s potential UK launch.