FSSAI orders removal of ‘100% fruit juice’ claims from ads, packaging labels

Delhi: Food regulator FSSAI has asked food business operators to immediately remove claims of 100% fruit juices in advertisements as well as labels on packaged products.

According to an official statement, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a "directive mandating all Food Business Operators (FBOs) to remove any claim of '100% fruit juices' from the labels and advertisements of reconstituted fruit juices with 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," the statement said.

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.

"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," FSSAI said.

FBOs have been told to comply with the standards for fruit juices as specified under sub-regulation 2.3.6 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011.

"This regulation states that products covered by this standard must be labelled in accordance with the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020," the statement said.

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'," the regulator said.