NEW DELHI: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has directed mandating all food business operators (FBOs) to remove any claim of so called ‘100 per cent fruit juices’ from the labels and advertisements with immediate effect. All the food business operators have also been instructed to exhaust all existing pre-printed packaging materials before September 1, 2024.
In a statement, India’s food safety regulator said it has come to their attention that several food operators 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 a ‘100 per cent’ claim.
“Such claims are misleading, particularly under conditions where 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 the fruit juice is reconstituted using water and fruit concentrates or pulp”, an official statement read.
In the clarification issued regarding the marketing and selling of reconstituted fruit juices as ‘100% fruit juices’, FBOs are reminded that they must comply with the standards for fruit juices. As per regulation, 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’. (ANI)