Patent 7972640 was granted and assigned to PepsiCo on July, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A combination of an acidulant system and a buffer salt system is included in lemon/lime flavored beverages to achieve improved stability. The acidulant system includes citric acid and/or phosphoric acid and an additional organic acid having a smaller dissociation constant than both phosphoric acid and citric acid; the buffer salt system includes a citrate salt and a phosphate salt.