EU: New directive for fruit juices published

The directive 2012/12/EU about tags on fruit and nectar juices has just been published. Its objective is to make it easier for consumers to have more of information about these products. The new norms will avoid faulty denominations in juice mixes and the wrong use of "no added sugar" info.

Juices mixes will need to have in the future a name that reflects the contents. For example, a mix with 90% of apple and 10% of strawberry will need to be called "apple and strawberry juice", while it could be called just "strawberry juice" until now. If there are three types of fruit or more in the juice, it will simply be called "fruit juice mix."

In the future, the fruit juices, by definition, will have no sugar or sweeteners. Néctars, produced with fruit purees and water, can contain added sugar or sweeteners. To avoid confusions, the tag "without added sugar" will not be allowed in néctars containing artificial sweeteners, like saccharine.

Many products sold as "orange juice" contain up to 10% of mandarin juice, which improves color and taste. This practice is quite common in Brazil, United States and other countries. The new directive establishes that orange juices coming to the EU go under the same norms as the European ones, meaning, that they must be produced only with orange juice or, if they contain mandarin, to have a tag as "orange and mandarin" juice.

Products sold or tagged before the 28 of October of 2012 comply with the old directive (Directive 2001/112/EC) and can be sold until the 28 of April of 2015. The new directive will start to be applied starting the 28 of April of 2013, when it has to be over the national norm.

Spain is the main producer of juices in the EU and is also the main consumer products.

More information to be downloaded here