Whoa: Diet Pepsi is getting rid of this major ingredient …

Diet soda isn’t having a great time these days. Sales have been falling, and many are left wondering how to lure customers back. Well, PepsiCo has announced that Diet Pepsi will be getting an ingredient makeover, and will no longer contain aspartame.

According to Pepsico, aspartame is one of the biggest complaints customers have. And it’s easy to see why — if you are sensitive to that unique aspartame taste, it can really throw you off. On top of that, aspartame has a bad rep as one of those artificial ingredients that the consumer tide has turned against. For some, it can cause headaches and opponents of the ingredient question whether or not it’s even safe for consumption.

“It’s the No. 1 thing that our customers have been calling about,” Seth Kaufman, a senior vice president at PepsiCo, told NBC News.

So what is aspartame going to be replaced with? Another artificial sweetener. Sucralose will be taking aspartame’s place on the ingredient list, and PepsiCo is hoping that a newer, less controversial sweetener will bring back customers.

You can expect to see the new Diet Pepsi on shelves this week. A roll-out has begun, but depending on turnover, the old formula may hang around a while. Look for “Now Aspartame Free” on the soda’s label in coming weeks.

(Image via iStock)