The same drink, but... sugar in France, and syrup in Bulgaria

Friday, Aug 15, 2025

Mediapool

Travel to Athens, Prague, or Sofia and find different tastes in familiar drinks and snacks due to “dual quality.”

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

When traveling to Athens, Prague, or Sofia this summer and purchasing Fanta orange, Pepsi, or chips, one might be surprised by a different taste than expected, as they may be different despite looking identical with familiar packaging. This introduces the concept of “dual quality” in food and beverages.

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PULSE is an initiative coordinated by OBCT that has been promoting intensive journalistic cross-border collaborations in Europe since 2024. Its main aim is to help strengthen the European public sphere by reporting on and telling stories from new and diverse perspectives.

At the heart of PULSE are 10 leading national news outlets (Delfi – Lithuania, Deník Referendum – Czechia, Der Standard – Austria, EfSyn – Greece, El Confidencial – Spain, Gazeta Wyborcza – Poland, HotNews – Romania, HVG – Hungary, Il Sole 24 Ore – Italy, Mediapool – Bulgaria) and three transnational organisations, including OBCT , n-ost and Voxeurop .

Additional outlets and journalists are involved as associate partners, including EUobserver , Føljeton (Denmark), H-Alter (Croatia), Levila (Estonia), Rubryka (Ukraine), and The Journal Investigates (Ireland).

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