Juicy information

The Food Standards Agency​ (FSA) has published new guidance notes regarding the regulation of ingredients in fruit juices, fruit nectars and sugar products. The body wants to ensure that people have access to good information about sugar content and how the juice is made.

The new regulations establish reserved descriptions for sugar products and open the door to a European Commission directive on methods of analysis for testing certain sugars. The FSA also wants to see better nutritional information on labels.

Under the new regulations, manufacturers will be able to add vitamins and minerals to fruit juice. So, for example, people who choose not to drink milk could contribute to their calcium intake by choosing fruit juice with added calcium.

And the wording `fruit juice from concentrate` will be an integral part of the product name if it has been made by reconstituting fruit juice concentrate. Juices made by mixing fruit juice and fruit juice from concentrate will be labelled as `fruit juice` with the additional wording `partially made from concentrate.`

The Specified Sugar Products Regulations, as it is called, came into force in England and Northern Ireland on 12 July 2003 and are due to come into force in Scotland and Wales around November 2003.