Awarded
to: Juice
Drinks
The
Children's Food Awards
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Capri-Sun
Orange
Juice Drink 'made with natural juice' contains only 10% juice. A
single serving contains over 4 teaspoons of sugar
- that's more sugar than juice.
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Parents know that
it's good to encourage children to enjoy fruit and real fruit juices.
Nutritionists advise that eating at least five portions of fruits and
vegetables a day can help people to maintain good health throughout their
lives, protecting them from heart disease and some forms of cancer.
That's why more and
more products for children proclaim their fruit or juice content prominently
on the front of the label, to give these products 'mum appeal'. A whole
range of foods, from yoghurts and cereals to chocolates and sweets, now
contain fruit juice.
The trouble is that
the level of added juice is often so low that children won't get much
health benefit from the claimed 'fruitiness' of these products. Parents
say that the tiny amount of fruit, especially in confectionery and 'juice
drinks', is only there to give these products a healthier image than they
really deserve.
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The members of The
Parents Jury thought that the use of fruit pictures and fruit descriptions
on nutritionally poor food products deserved to win the prize for 'Food
Label Fibs'. They highlighted the use of the description 'juice
drink' on low juice products as the most misleading of all.
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Calypso's
Cartoon Network Orange Juice Drink is just 10% juice and contains
over five teaspoons of sugar in every carton.
The sugars are sneakily listed as 'carbohydate' on the packet,
which would confuse most parents.
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Pure fruit juice
contains 100% fruit juice, as you would expect. However, a fruit juice
drink can contain as little as 5% juice. Many so-called 'juice
drinks' contain more water and sugar than actual juice, and many also
include flavourings, artificial sweeteners and colourings.
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Expert
Opinion
Whilst the phrase
'juice drink' is perfectly legal, and can be used on drinks containing
as little as 5% juice, many parents say that this description is downright
misleading. And that's just the parents who have found out that 'juice
drink' actually means 'low juice'. What about all the other parents who
have been persuaded that these drinks are a healthy choice for children?
On behalf of the Parents
Jury, the Food Commission has written to the Food Standards Agency to
let them know that parents aren't happy with the definition of 'juice
drink', and has asked for the use of fruity descriptions and imagery to
be more carefully regulated for the good of children's health.
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Five
Alive Refreshing Orange Juice Drink has 'Five Added Nutrients'
because 'it's essential that kids and parents get off
to the best possible start to the day'.
We
can think of much better ways to start the day than with five
teaspoons of sugar in a single glass! |
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What
about when a product has pictures of fruit?
Food law tries to be strict about the use of fruit pictures appearing
on food labels. The idea is that if a picture of strawberries appears
on the label, then that product's flavour must come wholly or mainly from
strawberries. And if the name of a product features the word 'apple' or
'blackcurrant', then the product's flavour must come wholly or mainly
from 'apple' or 'blackcurrant'.
However, there are
loopholes in the law that let low-juice juice drinks carry both the word
'juice' and pictures of fruit whilst containing extremely low levels
of real fruit.
By law, low juice
drinks that do contain added water and sugar have to be described as a
'juice drink'. In the ingredients list, the percentage of real fruit juice
must be declared, but this is often in tiny print on the back of the carton
or bottle, where consumers won't spot it.
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Robinsons
Fruit Shoot
certainly looks like it's full of healthy strawberry juice,
but it only contains 10% juice.
The
actual ingredients are: Water,
Strawberry juice, Flavouring, Citric acid, Acidity Regulator
(Trisodium citrate E331), Preservatives (Potasssium sorbate
E202, Dimethyldicarbonate E242, Sodium Benzoate E211), Vitamins
(C, Niacin, Pantothenic acid, B6, D, B12), Sweeteners (Aspartame,
Acesulfame K) Stabiliser (Xanthan gum), Colour (Anthocyanins
E163)
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What's
the difference between 'Flavour' and 'Flavoured'?
The word 'flavour', as in 'raspberry flavour' or 'apple flavour', means
that there is no raspberry or apple in the product! Only if you
see the word 'flavoured' can you be sure that some of the named
fruit is in the product. But it doesn't have to be very much. We've seen
some products containing as little as 0.5% strawberry powder but still
claiming to be 'strawberry flavoured'.
What
about 'Fruit Flavoured'?
In another bizarre twist of logic, products carrying fruity imagery or
described as 'fruit flavoured' should declare the percentage content of
fruit, to allow people to make a fair comparison with other products.
However, this doesn't apply if the content of fruit is so small as to
be unmeasurable, for instance when natural fruit flavouring has been added
instead of real fruit. This means that adding just a hint of fruit flavouring
qualifies a product to use fruit imagery on the label and fruity descriptions.
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This
Vimto Grape, Blackcurrant & Raspberry Juice
Drink says it contains 'Real Fruit Juices' but you'd be hard
pressed to find them. There's only 2.7% grape juice in this
product, with just a few drops of blackcurrant (0.2%) and
raspberry juice (0.1%)!
There's
plenty of sugar of course (four and a half teaspoons of sugars),
plus flavourings, colour, preservatives, some added Vitamin
C (for mum appeal) and the artificial sweetener Saccharin
to give it an extra sweet kick.
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Confused?
You're not alone! Many parents report that these subtle variations in
words and phrases are extremely difficult to interpret. Parents say that
all they want to know is whether the product really contains enough fruit
to count as a healthy food or drink. If you want more information on issues
like this, check out The Food Commissions website at www.foodcomm.org.uk
or subscribe to The Food Magazine.
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Better
drinks
The best drink for children and adults is pure and simple, water. Drinks
for toddlers given in bottles or beakers should really either be water
or milk. This is because evidence shows that drinking sugary drinks, even
fruit juice from bottles, does contribute to tooth decay.
Pure 100% juice is
also great for children, although it should be diluted if given to small
children. Don't forget that even 100% fruit juice contains fruit sugars
which can damage teeth. To minimise the risk to teeth nutritionists recommend
giving fruit juice to children only at meal times.
A good alternative
to 'juice drinks' or squash is to mix fruit juice with water or to make
a fizzy drink mix the juice with carbonated water.
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The
Children's Food Awards 2002
The
Children's Food Awards 2003
Join
The Parents Jury
Home
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The
most misleading products are all those 'juice drinks' which come in
cartons and look like the real fruit ones right next to them.
mother of two, from Painswick in Gloucestershire
A
'juice drink' is really only juice-flavoured sugary water.
mother of one, from Petersfield in Hampshire
When
searching the shelves for 'REAL' juice, half the time it's very easy
to grab the wrong one. You tend to focus on the term 'juice' and feel
it's healthy. If the juice content is low, they shouldn't be allowed
to use this term at all on the packaging.
mother of one, from Preston
'Juice'
is healthy but 'juice drinks' should really be labelled as 'water
and sugar'.
mother of three, from Dartford in Kent
Health
officials promote juice rather than fizzy drinks, so this comment
'juice drink' misleads parents.
mother of two, from Leyland in Lancashire
The
description 'juice drink' actually tries to lure people into thinking
they are making a healthy choice. It's deceit.
mother of two, from Willersley near Broadway
It's
so misleading for people who don't read the labels or who don't understand
them.
mother of one, from Dorking in Surrey
'Juice
drinks' always seem to be the drinks in the most eye-catching packaging
as well. If the drink had an adequate amount of juice in it in the
first place then it wouldn't need any sugar to make it palatable.
This kind of slogan makes parents think it's a suitable product to
give all ages of children.
mother of two, from Yately in Hampshire
Husbands
and grandparents see 'juice' and just buy this particular brand and
it's full of sugar.
mother of one, from Aberdeen
'Juice
drinks' have large pictures of fruit on package and could be mistaken
for real juice on some supermarket shelves.
mother of three, from Richmond in Surrey
The
packaging suggests healthy juice with the words 'juice drink'. I've
now learned it means that there's hardly any pure juice in it but
lots of artificial additives.
mother of two, from Powys in Wales
A
friend gave my daughter a carton of juice... It was organic and had
ticks on the carton for 'only natural flavours', 'no artificial sweeteners'
and 'no added colours'. However I was shocked to see that Sainsbury's
are targeting these 'Blue Parrot Café' organic juice drinks
for children when they're only 10% juice and the rest is pretty much
just sugar and water. Many parents who do not read labels really think
these drinks are good for their children.
mother of two, from Chelmsford in Essex
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Blue
Parrot Café Organic apple & blackcurrant juice
drink
10% juice
8.2% sugars |
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