The 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.

FSSAI conducted a thorough examination into the inaccurate claims of 100% fruit juice made by several FBOs and 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 has stated.

The food safety regulator has reminded FBOs 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 & 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. 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’.