Food and drink manufacturers, particularly those that produce fruit smoothies, must live up to the claims made on their packaging or they could face enforcement action.
This was the message from UK consumer association Which? in response to a report which claims that drinks from many leading manufacturers that promise a range of flavours are in reality comprised of 90 per cent apple juice.
According to an investigation carried out by the Sunday Times (paywall), Innocent’s mango and passion fruit smoothie features only 4 per cent passion fruit and 16 per cent mango.
Similarly, a mango and passion fruit drink from Tropicana is comprised of 87 per cent apple juice, with mango and passion fruit making up a mere 13 per cent of its content.
However, the investigation found that the manufacturers were not breaching any EU regulations because the actual contents of each drink were listed in small print on the cartons.
In response to the report, a spokesperson for Which? said: “We’ve regularly found examples of confusing or meaningless claims on food or drink packaging.
“Products must live up to the claims made on the packaging.
“We want to see clear labelling and honest claims on all food and drinks, coupled with effective enforcement action from Trading Standards officers when misleading labelling is uncovered.”
Tropicana and Innocent responded to the report by claiming that the name on the front of the cartons referred to the flavour of the drinks rather than their specific content.
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