The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has ordered beverage companies to remove claims of “100 per cent fruit juice” from labels as well as advertisements of reconstituted fruit juice products from immediate effect. Fruit concentrates and water are used to make reconstituted fruit juices. It has also directed food business operators (FBOs) to exhaust all existing pre-printed packaging materials before September 1. The food safety authority noted that the regulations have no provisions allowing companies to make a “100 per cent fruit juice” claim and hence are misleading.
The Food Safety Authority said that it has found instances of several fruit juice companies making “inaccurate” marketing claims on packaged fruit juice products.
“It has come to the attention of FSSAI that several FBOs have been inaccurately marketing various types of reconstituted fruit juices by claiming them to be 100 per cent fruit juices. Upon thorough examination, FSSAI has concluded that, according to the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018, there is no provision for making ‘100% claims,” it said in a statement.
The food safety authority also noted that “such claims are misleading.” It added that the claims are misleading, especially when “the major ingredient of the fruit juice is water and the primary ingredient, for which the claim is made, is present only in limited concentrations or when fruit juice is reconstituted using water and fruit concentrates or pulp.”
FSSAI added that FBOs must comply with the standards for fruit juices as specified in the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards & Food Additives) Regulation, 2011. It further added that the regulations state that in the ingredient list, the word “reconstituted” must be mentioned against the name of the juice that is reconstituted from the concentrate. “Additionally, if added nutritive sweeteners exceed 15 gm/kg, the product must be labelled as ‘Sweetened Juice,” it added.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is dedicated to protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety standards across the country.