Why do some products have different nutritional composition stated on different containers, even when accounting for serving size?

Question

I've been looking into nutritional composition of beverages and I've found something weird: sometimes, when the same product is served in a different container, the nutritional contents on on the packaging changes even though it's supposed to be the same beverage. And yes, I am accounting for serving size. For example, from the Dutch website of my local grocery store:

• Lipton Original sparkling ice tea served in containers of .15 liters say they contain 4.5 grams of sugar per 100 ml and 20 kilocalories;
• Lipton Original sparkling ice tea served in containers of 1.5 liters say they contain 8 grams of sugar per 100 ml and 35 kilocalories.

My assumption was always that in the factories that produce and bottle these beverages, they make these in giant vats of thousands of liters and then assign part to the .15 liter containers and part to the 1.5 liter containers. If this is the case, then why do these contain such massively different nutritional value differences?

Answer 1

I can only guess at it needs to be a different recipe for the can compared to the bottle.

The ingredients list, though not hugely helpful, lists tea-extract at 0.3% on one pack & 0.32% on the other. If they've changed that, they could change anything else & not have to report it in ingredients, only in nutritional value.

In fact, putting it through Google Translate, one claims stevia & fructose, the other just sugar. Completely different recipes, regular & 'low-cal'.

Can

Carbonated water, sugar, fructose, tea extract(0.3%), food acids (citric acid, malic acid), acidity regulator (trisodium citrate), lemon juice from concentrated juice (0.1%), aroma, antioxidant (ascorbic acid), sweetener (steviol glycosides ).

Bottle

Carbonated water, sugar, tea extract (0.32%), food acid (citric acid), acidity regulator (trisodium citrate), lemon juice from concentrated juice (0.1%), flavourings, preservative (potassium sorbate), antioxidant (ascorbic acid).

Answer 2

Curious! It could be a different recipe, like Tetsujin's answer suggests. Or it could be the same recipe, but due to the smaller serving size some ingredients may fall below the reporting threshold.

Consider from https://www.tictac.com/us/en/faq/:

Tic Tac® mints do contain sugar as listed in the ingredient statement. However, since the amount of sugar per serving (1 mint) is less than 0.5 grams, FDA labeling requirements permit the Nutrition Facts to state that there are 0 grams of sugar per serving.

(They are actually 90% sugar.)

Another explanation could be that perhaps a single recipe is used for all products, but the recipe has changed at some point. The store may have different amounts of stock of the products, and may end up selling one bottle with the old recipe and one with the new recipe.

I have asked the manufacturer through their contact form to see if they want to jump in and give us an authoritative answer. I'll update this answer if they get back.