FSSAI issues directions to food companies to immediately remove ‘100% fruit-juice’ claims – ..

FSSAI has directed all food companies to remove the claim of ‘100% fruit juice’ from their fruit juice labels and advertisements with immediate effect. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a statement on Monday (June 3) giving this information. Not only this, FSSAI has also directed all food companies to phase out their existing pre-printed packaging material before September 1, 2024.FSSAI said, “We found that several food business operators (FBOs) are mis-marketing various types of reconstituted fruit juices and claiming that they are ‘100% fruit juices’. After investigation, the food regulator has come to the conclusion that there is no provision for making ‘100%’ claim as per Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations 2018,” FSSAI said.The food regulator said such claims are misleading, especially in situations where the main component of fruit juice is water. While the real fruit is present in very limited quantity, for which the company claims ‘100%’. However, companies are reproducing fruit juices by using water and fruit concentrate or pulp.As per the food laws of India, it is mandatory for food companies to mention the word ‘reconstituted’ next to the name of juice reconstituted from concentrate in the ingredient list. Also, if the nutritive sweeteners are more than 15 g/kg, the product must be labelled as ‘sweetened juice’.