AN ICONIC fizzy drink has made a big change to its recipe and fans are fuming about the taste.
Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I has tweaked the flavour of its flagship Lucozade Original and Orange energy drinks.
The change is meant to give the drink a "more zingy" taste.
The amount of sugar in every bottle is unchanged however, the supplier has swapped out the sweetener aspartame for sucralose.
A Lucozade Energy Spokesperson said: "Following 18 months of extensive research and development with 6,500 Lucozade Energy fans we have updated Lucozade Energy Original and Orange flavour drinks to lean into the key flavour notes that our consumers tell us they want.
"The new recipes hone into more 'zingy' notes, with a stronger flavour for Original's unique and loved taste profile and a more citrusy, orange taste for Orange."
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The Orange and Original flavours are also getting a fresh pack design, that reveals more of the liquid to shoppers.
The packaging changes will roll out across bottles for the remaining Lucozade Energy flavours in the coming months.
However, Lucozade fans have been quick to spot the changing flavour of the drink.
One fan said on X, formally known as Twitter: "Having tried a bottle, new Lucozade tastes… like disinfectant… Congrats.
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"LucozadeEnergy, I've had a mild addiction to Original Lucozade since my twenties… I guess I've been cured 'cause I'm not drinking that again."
Another said: "Lucozade Energy did you change the flavour of Lucozade along with the bottle design?
"It's horrible like someone added dish soap or some s**t."
"Lucozade has changed the orange recipe and I will never forgive them for this," said a third shopper.
But others commented that the new flavour is "growing on them."
Of the change to the bottle's packaging another shopper said: "These new Lucozade bottles have no trousers on."
Discussing the changes a Lucozade spokesperson said: "We're proud of the changes we have made to deliver our best-tasting drinks yet and we're confident over time fans will find the work we’ve done is all for the better!"
The recipe tweak is effective across all Lucozade Energy Orange and Lucozade Energy Original 380ml, 500ml and 900ml bottles for individual sale and inclusion in multipacks.
Lucozade customers were last left fuming when the brand halved the amount of sugar in its drinks to beat the government's sugar tax back in 2017.
Lucozade Orange, which once had the most sugar compared to other soft drinks on the market, had its sugar content slashed from 13g to 4.5g – a whopping 65% reduction.
The new low-sugar drinks hit supermarket shelves in July 2017.
The sugar tax then came into force on April 6, 2018.
Soft drinks companies have to pay extra in tax for soft drinks with more than 5g and 8g of sugar.
But Lucozade lost £25million in sales in the first 12 months after making the change in the energy drink's recipe.
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Sprite recently changed the recipe of its Sprite lemon and lime original and sugar-free drinks.
Pepsi also cut the amount of sugar in its regular cans of Pepsi in March 2023.
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