“Fruit juice” that has been drinking “100% fruit juice” for so many years?

In the “2016 Food Safety Hotspot Science Interpretation Media Communication Conference”, “100% Juice Purity Found in Purified Water” once again sparked heated discussions. Hu Xiaosong, a professor at the China Agricultural University, explained that pure water is contained in the packaging ingredients, indicating that the product is a rejuvenating juice and “consumers should understand it correctly”.

Correct understanding of "100% fruit juice"

In July last year, the Yangcheng Evening News reported that when consumers purchased the nominal “100% Pure Juice”, they found that their ingredient list contained pure water. They expressed dissatisfaction with this phenomenon and considered it a concept of deliberate propaganda. As a result, the topic of "100% pure fruit juice" has aroused people's concern and heated discussion, and thus became a major hot spot for food safety in 2016.

At the communication meeting, Hu Xiaosong stated that there are no provisions in the national standard that “recovery juices must be labeled” or “recovery juices cannot be labeled with 100% content”.

The National Standard for Food Safety, General Principles for Labelling of Prepackaged Foods (GB 7718-2011) requires that special names that reflect the true attributes of food should be clearly marked in the prominent position of food labels. According to Hu Xiaosong, 100% juice products clearly indicate to consumers that the product ingredients contain pure water, indicating that the product is a rejuvenating juice. The product name is marked 100% in front of the product name in order to truthfully inform the consumer of the fruit juice concentration.


Product Name Misleading Consumers

In fact, there are two kinds of understanding of "100% fruit juice". One is pure fruit juice that is freshly squeezed without any additives, and the other is concentrated juice. Literally, many consumers will understand "100% fruit juice" as the former. In fact, what the business claims is "100% pure fruit juice" is "concentrated and reduced juice", which is a reconstituted fruit juice made from fruit juice concentrate and water.

According to the relevant personnel of the China Beverage Industry Association, adding the same amount of water lost in the concentrated juice to the concentrated fruit juice is actually equal to the fruit juice, which is commonly known as “100% juice” in the industry.

Zhu Yi, an associate professor at the China Agricultural University's School of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, told the Yangcheng Evening News that such condensed fruit juices are similar to liquid milk processed with milk powder as raw materials, and are likely to be misleading to consumers.

Hu Xiaosong suggested that the industry should strengthen supervision, and enterprises should be more self-disciplined to ensure that “100% fruit juice” is restored to the original fruit juice concentration, and popular science propaganda is conducted promptly so that consumers can correctly understand the labeling of fruit juices and make them guide the reasonable choice of daily meals. Collocation. He stressed that the national standards for the content of raw juice in the juice should be urgently formulated to prevent certain companies from producing juice drinks that do not match their nominal juice content. Strengthen scientific research on the adulteration of fruit juices and establish a juice identification system and standards.