Spotlight on The World of Coca-Cola: Saci and Samson Drinks

Thought that beverages with added health benefits were new? Think again. In the 1960s, The Coca-Cola Company assigned an international team of scientists and food technologists the task of finding a solution to the “protein gap” facing the poorer nations of the world. The scientists set out to create protein-rich products that would provide necessary vitamins to the populations that needed them most. The first advancements in “The Nutrition Project” were the introduction of the products Saci, Samson and Tai, three protein-rich energy beverages developed in severely malnourished areas of Latin America, utilizing the geographical region’s readily available natural resources, such as soybeans and whey, as protein source ingredients for the beverages. You can see a few of these products in the Milestones of Refreshment display at World of Coca-Cola, and here's a sample of one of the first ads for Saci from Brazil in 1969.