E-Paper
FSSAI warns food businesses to remove ‘100% fruit juice’ claim
FSSAI directs Food Business Operators to remove '100% fruit juices' claims from reconstituted products due to misleading advertising practices.
New Delhi The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Monday issued a directive mandating all Food Business Operators (FBOs) to remove any claims of ‘100% fruit juices’ from the labels and advertisements of reconstituted products with an immediate effect.
All the FBOs have also been instructed to exhaust all existing pre-printed packaging materials before September 1, 2024.
“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% 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%’ claim,” the FSSAI statement said.
“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,” the statement said.
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 specified under sub-regulation 2.3.6 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards & Food Additives) Regulation, 2011.
“The regulation states that products covered by this standard must be labelled in accordance with the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020. Specifically, 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’,” FSSAI said.
In April last year, the food regulator issued a statement saying it had begun cracking down on false and misleading claims made by food business operators in the country.
To monitor ads, FSSAI has set up a dedicated committee, which periodically scrutinises ads and claims made by food businesses across platforms, including social media and e-commerce.
“FSSAI has taken note of various media reports including on social media on health claims made by food business operators in the country. In this regard, it is reiterated that the mandate of FSSAI is to lay down science based standards for food products and enforce the same,” read last year’s FSSAI statement.
