FSSAI to food biz: Remove 100% fruit juice claims

New Delhi, NT Bureau: Food regulator FSSAI has asked food business operators to immediately remove claims of 100 per cent fruit juice 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 an immediate effect.

All the FBOs have also been instructed to exhaust all pre-printed packaging materials before 1st September 2024. "It has come to the attention of FSSAI that FBOs have been inaccurately marketing reconstituted fruit juices by claiming them to be 100 per cent fruit juices," the statement said.

Upon 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 ingredientis present only in limited concentrations, or when the fruit juice is reconstituted using water and fruit concentrates or pulp," FSSAI said.