Definitions of pure juices, cordials and drinks and related legal requirements

Product development of new soft drinks and fruit juices: Initial issues affecting product development The marketing brief Cost constraints Packaging issues Manufacturing issues Shelf-life prediction Assessing consumer reactions to new products. Ingredients in soft drinks and fruit juices: Water as an ingredient Fruit components as ingredients Carbohydrate sweeteners Intense sweeteners Flavourings Colourings Preservatives Nutraceutical ingredients Miscellaneous additives. Manufacturing of soft drinks and fruit juices: Ingredient sourcing and storage Mixing, compounding and related problems Pasteurisation, homogenisation and related issues Filling operations and related issues Secondary packaging Finished product storage. Quality issues in soft drink and fruit juice processing: Ingredient quality Ingredient interactions Ingredient specifications Problems during manufacture and safety issues Colour and appearance changes Flavour deterioration Packaging interactions Microbiological problems Shelf-life issues. Bottled waters: Legislation Water extraction Water treatment and bottling Quality issues Storage and distribution. Packaging, storage and distribution of soft drinks and fruit juices: Selection of packaging Packaging defects Problems during filling and packaging operations Post-filling defects Storage conditions Distribution problems. Handling consumer complaints about soft drinks and fruit juices. Regulatory issues relating to soft drinks and fruit juices.

Association between adolescents’ consumption of total and different types of sugar‐sweetened beverages with oral health impacts and weight status

A reverse phase high-pressure liquid chromatographic method is presented for the simultaneous separation and determination of sacchrain, sodium benzoate, and caffeine in soft drinks, fruit juices, fruit cocktails, fruit punches, coffee, and artificial sweetener concentrates. Decarbonated soft drinks, fruit punches, and artificial sweetener concentrates are injected directly into the chromatograph. Fruit juices and coffee solutions require filtration through a 0.45 mum pore membrane filter prior to injection. Samples are eluted from a mu-Bondapak/C18 column with 5% glacial acetic acid and are quantitated with an ultraviolet detector. The results of saccharin, sodium benzoate, and caffeine determinations in 34 soft drinks (representing 11 manufacturers and 20 flavors); 8 fruit juices, cocktails, and punches; 7 coffees; and 6 artificial sweetener concentrates are presented. Average recoveries of saccharin, sodium benzoate, and caffeine from soft drinks are 99.0, 99.3, and 100.2%, respectively.

The fruit juice industry needs to ensure that its business is carried out within the planetary boundaries. Accordingly, this work aims to provide the views towards sustainability of the worldwide fruit juice industry, as key stakeholders in the food industry supply chain. This research identifies the current sustainability priorities within the sector and provides insights on the existing information gaps. A questionnaire was launched during spring 2022 among the International Fruit Juice and Vegetable Association members to obtain a current overview of the sector. The data shown here includes key fruit juice stakeholders from 20 countries across the globe, ranging from quality assessment to economic/social/environmental sustainability and general managers. A set of answers on the perceived meaning of sustainability and the possible measures to reduce the environmental impacts are gathered and classified. According to the results of this questionnaire, carbon footprint and social aspects emerge as the main hotspots. Overall, results show an increasing concern in the fruit juice industry towards holistic sustainability (environmental/social/economic) and clearly point to customers as a main driver to implement sustainability measures rather that complying with regulations. With this set of information, this work is ready to lay the groundwork for future studies in the area of sustainability in the food sector, while it may guide industry in its efforts to fulfil 2023 and 2050 climate targets.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major problems in many areas of the world and has deeply affected many sectors and industries. The food and beverage industry is one of the industries that has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to explore the impact of the pandemic on the Turkish fruit juice industry and the attitudes and behaviors of companies. In addition, the study seeks to identify the changes in the industry caused by the pandemic and discuss its long-term effects. The material used for the study consists of the data obtained from the surveys conducted among the companies producing fruit juices in Türkiye. The results show that the pandemic had a significant impact on companies' logistics activities, while supply activities were moderately affected. However, the effects of the pandemic on exports, sales, production, total profit, and R&D activities were comparatively limited. When comparing the pre-pandemic period with the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was observed that some companies in the industry experienced declines in production, sales, exports, and overall profit, whereas others experienced increases in these metrics. These variations were not associated with company size or length of operation, suggesting that the impact of the pandemic on individual companies was unique. Interestingly, some companies reported positive effects from the pandemic, such as increased demand for certain products, new export markets, improved food safety practices, new suppliers and improved crisis management skills. However, the fruit juice industry in Türkiye was found to be vulnerable in the areas of logistics and supply chain management. The study suggests that companies should strengthen supply chain management, improve stock management, and create online marketing plans to reduce potential problems in future crises. Additionally, it contributes to the development of strategies to mitigate the impact of future pandemics or bottlenecks that may emerge in the future, thereby promoting the efficiency and sustainability of the fruit juice industry as a whole.

BackgroundIntake of sweet drinks has previously been associated with the development of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. The present study aimed to assess the consumption pattern of sweet drinks in a population of children and adolescents in Victoria, Australia.MethodsData on 1,604 children and adolescents (4–18 years) from the comparison groups of two quasi-experimental intervention studies from Victoria, Australia were analysed. Sweet drink consumption (soft drink and fruit juice/cordial) was assessed as one day’s intake and typical intake over the last week or month at two time points between 2003 and 2008 (mean time between measurement: 2.2 years).ResultsAssessed using dietary recalls, more than 70% of the children and adolescents consumed sweet drinks, with no difference between age groups (p = 0.28). The median intake among consumers was 500 ml and almost a third consumed more than 750 ml per day. More children and adolescents consumed fruit juice/cordial (69%) than soft drink (33%) (p < 0.0001) and in larger volumes (median intake fruit juice/cordial: 500 ml and soft drink: 375 ml). Secular changes in sweet drink consumption were observed with a lower proportion of children and adolescents consuming sweet drinks at time 2 compared to time 1 (significant for age group 8 to <10 years, p = 0.001).ConclusionThe proportion of Australian children and adolescents from the state of Victoria consuming sweet drinks has been stable or decreasing, although a high proportion of this sample consumed sweet drinks, especially fruit juice/cordial at both time points.

2 - Ingredients in soft drinks and fruit juices

7 - Handling consumer complaints about soft drinks and fruit juices

To report dietary free sugars consumption and their different types and food sources in European children. The present study is based on the IDEFICS study, a European multicenter cohort study in children (2-9years old) from eight countries, comprising 8308 children (51.4% males). Dietary intake of the previous 24h was assessed using a computer-assisted 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDR) and the different types of sugars were assessed using the German food composition database. Mean total energy intake was 1720 (SD 477) kcal/d for boys and 1631 (SD 451) kcal/d for girls. Total sugars intake was 98 (SD 52) g/day for boys and 93 (SD 49) g/day for girls. Free sugars intake was 81 (SD 49) g/day for boys and 77 (SD 47) g/day for girls. Girls had significantly lower intakes of energy, total and free sugars compared with than boys but did not differ in terms of percent of energy from total (23%) or free sugars (18%). There were large variations between countries in average % energy from free sugars (ranging from 13% in Italy to 27% in Germany). Less than 20% of children were within the recommended intake of 10% of energy from free sugars. The food groups that contributed substantially to free sugars intakes were "Fruit juices", "Soft drinks", "Dairy" and "Sweets and candies". The contribution of free sugars to total energy intake in European children is higher than recommendations. The main food contributors to free sugars intake are sweetened beverages ("Fruit juices" and "Soft drinks"). It is especially important to reduce children's intake of free sugars, focusing in target population on certain foods and food groups.

To the Editor: I agree with Berry that the case reports reviewed in the article by Tsimihodimos et al. (1) represent excessive cola consumption. But I do not fully accept his assertion that ‘the consumption range of the normal consumer is comfortably within 2 l a day.’ The available data on soft drink consumption suggest that a significant minority, among both adolescents and adults, may exceed 2 l/day. An analysis of 1999–2002 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) on consumption of non-diet carbonated soft drinks and fruit drinks showed that 10% of 13- to 18-year-old boys in the US drank at least 1.95 l/day, and 5% drank at least 2.45 l/day. In all, 5% of US 13- to 18-year-old boys and girls were estimated to drink at least 2.19 l/day (2). In adults, 1999–2004 data from NHANES reveal that the average daily consumption of men who had one or more sugar-sweetened drinks on the survey day was 32 ounces (0.95 l), and the average serving size was 17 ounces (0.50 l) (3). Further analysis of the NHANES 1999–2004 1-day recall data, after adjusting for race-ethnicity, gender, age, marital status, income and employment status, showed that 9.2% of adults (age 20+) had consumed at least 68 ounces (2.01 l) of sugar-sweetened drinks in the prior 24 h (4) (It should be noted that this estimate is based on only 1 day of dietary recall, rather than two, which may underestimate the day-to-day variability in high-end consumers.). These are substantive minorities, not outliers. A total of 5–10% of adolescents and adults in the US alone would amount to about 10–20 million people. Data on high-end consumption worldwide are not available, but I suspect that soft drink overconsumption is not restricted to the US. In discussing my case report (5), Berry states that normal potassium homeostasis was re-established when my patient reduced his cola consumption from 4 l to 2 l/day. Follow-up on this patient, however, has shown improvement but not complete normalisation of his serum potassium levels. When he drank 4 l/day, the average of 18 serum potassium values over 2 years was 3.09 meq/l (range 2.2–3.8 meq/l). In the 14 months, since he reduced his consumption to 2 l/day, the average of 12 serum potassium levels is 3.47 meq/l (range 2.7–4.0 meq/l). This is still below the recognised lower limit of normal value of 3.7 meq/l and suggests that there might be a dose–response relationship between cola consumption and hypokalaemia. It follows that moderately heavy (but not grossly excessive) consumers of cola drinks might be at risk for mild hypokalaemia, which has been shown to increase the risk for myocardial infarction, cardiovascular death and stroke in patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease (6). Regarding the question of osmotic diarrhoea and hypokalaemia from high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), two studies using both breath hydrogen testing and symptom scores have shown that about two-thirds of normal subjects develop fructose malabsorption with a 50 g oral load (7,8). Fructose can be absorbed in the small intestine in two ways, either by low-capacity facilitated diffusion via the GLUT-5 receptor, or in the presence of glucose, by rapid diffusion via the GLUT-2 receptor (9). HFCS is formulated with various fructose-to-glucose ratios, ranging from 42 : 58 to 90 : 10. A person drinking 4 l of Pepsi–Cola per day with a 55 : 45 fructose-to-glucose ratio would be consuming 43 g of excess fructose per day. Individual variability in the capacity to absorb fructose might account for the lack of diarrhoea in some cases; however, mild chronic malabsorption (even with minimal symptoms) might over time lead to significant potassium deficiency. Breath hydrogen testing and symptom scoring on a series of patients at progressively increasing levels of cola intake would be one way to settle the question of the role of HFCS in cola-induced hypokalaemia. Perhaps, as Berry states, cola-induced hypokalaemia is just a problem of the ‘extreme consumer.’ But I contend that there are millions of these extreme consumers out there, including many of our friends, family members and co-workers, who may face significant health risks if they continue to consume excessive amounts of soft drink. The author has not received funding or honoraria from any source.

The present study aimed at investigating the influence of food availability, rules and television viewing habits on eating behaviours in adolescents. Cross-sectional study. Four randomly selected middle schools. A sample of 534 seventh and eighth graders. Validated questionnaires were used to measure the family environment and fat, soft drink and fruit consumption. Hierarchical regression analyses on fat, soft drink and fruit consumption, with demographic and psychosocial variables entered as the first and environmental factors as the second block were conducted in boys and girls. Boys with more unhealthy products available at home consumed more fat (P< or =0.001, 95% CI: 8.2-29.4) and more soft drinks (P< or =0.01, 95% CI: 0.2-1.4). Boys who reported better television viewing habits ate more fruit (P< or =0.001, 95% CI: -1.7 to -0.5). Girls who reported better television viewing habits consumed less fat (P< or =0.01, 95% CI: 1.4-9.0) and more fruit (P< or =0.05, 95% CI: -1.0 to -0.1). Girls who reported higher availability of healthy products at home (P< or =0.05, 95% CI: 0.3-3.1) and more food rules (P< or =0.001, 95% CI: -1.8 to -0.5), consumed more fruit. Environmental factors were poor predictors of soft drink consumption among girls. Availability of (un)healthy food products, family food rules and TV viewing habits were related to one or more eating behaviours in boys or girls. Although home environmental factors can play an important role in influencing adolescents' eating behaviours, these factors were generally less predictive than demographic and psychosocial variables.

The daily intakes of benzoates and sorbates from selected food categories were estimated in Brazil in 1999. The Budget method was used as a first screening procedure for the estimation of the safety aspects of the maximum permitted levels of benzoates and sorbates established by the Brazilian food legislation. This screening indicated that benzoates should be further investigated. In a second step, the daily intakes of these preservatives were assessed by combining measured levels of these additives with national food consumption data derived from a household economic survey and a packaged good market survey. Benzoate and sorbate levels in soft drinks, fruit juices, margarine, yoghurt and cheese were determined by HPLC with a photodiode array detector (detection at 228 nm for benzoic acid, 260 nm for sorbic acid). The estimated intakes of benzoates and sorbates for the average consumer were below the ADIs, ranging from 0.3 to 0.9 and 0.2 to 0.3 mg kg-1 body weight, respectively. Soft drinks were identified as the main source of benzoates representing >80% of the estimated intake.

It is well known that reducing consumption of sugar is a global public health priority. Beverages were the primary source of total sugar intake from processed foods. However, there are few studies investigating the trend of beverage consumption among children and adolescents in Korea. We examined the overall trend in beverage consumption among 11,996 participants aged 10–18 years who were enrolled in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) (1998–2018). Further, we examined the effect of beverage types on beverage consumption-related demographic factors and obesity among 6121 participants using the recent 24 h dietary recall data (2010–2018) that captured the consumption of fruit and vegetable juices, soft drinks, milk and milk-based products and alcoholic beverages. Demographic characteristics, including sex, age, body mass index, household income level and residential area, were considered. Consumers’ overall beverage intake and the percentage of energy derived from fruit and vegetable juices and soft drinks steadily increased from 1998 to 2016–2018 (p-trend < 0.0001); in contrast, dairy product consumption declined since 2010–2012. The main sources of beverage-based calories were fruit and vegetable juices (107.5 kcal/day), soft drinks (145.2 kcal/day), dairy products (181.8 kcal/day) and alcoholic beverages (103.5 kcal/day). Also, Korean adolescents aged 16–18 years consumed more soft drinks, fewer dairy products and higher alcoholic drinks than other age groups; particularly, boys consumed more energy from beverages (p < 0.0001). The odds ratios of obesity prevalence tended to be higher for soft drink consumption than for other beverages but this was not significant. The consumption of fruit and vegetable juices and milk and milk products showed a marginal association with a reduced risk of obesity prevalence. Since beverage consumption has increased steadily among Korean children and adolescents, appropriate interventions are needed. In the future, data from a larger sample of Korean children and adolescents are necessary to identify significant differences and longitudinal studies are necessary to examine the causalities.

Dietary sugar, especially in liquid form, increases risk of dental caries, adiposity, and type 2 diabetes. The United Kingdom Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) was announced in March 2016 and implemented in April 2018 and charges manufacturers and importers at £0.24 per litre for drinks with over 8 g sugar per 100 mL (high levy category), £0.18 per litre for drinks with 5 to 8 g sugar per 100 mL (low levy category), and no charge for drinks with less than 5 g sugar per 100 mL (no levy category). Fruit juices and milk-based drinks are exempt. We measured the impact of the SDIL on price, product size, number of soft drinks on the marketplace, and the proportion of drinks over the lower levy threshold of 5 g sugar per 100 mL. We analysed data on a total of 209,637 observations of soft drinks over 85 time points between September 2015 and February 2019, collected from the websites of the leading supermarkets in the UK. The data set was structured as a repeat cross-sectional study. We used controlled interrupted time series to assess the impact of the SDIL on changes in level and slope for the 4 outcome variables. Equivalent models were run for potentially levy-eligible drink categories ('intervention' drinks) and levy-exempt fruit juices and milk-based drinks ('control' drinks). Observed results were compared with counterfactual scenarios based on extrapolation of pre-SDIL trends. We found that in February 2019, the proportion of intervention drinks over the lower levy sugar threshold had fallen by 33.8 percentage points (95% CI: 33.3-34.4, p < 0.001). The price of intervention drinks in the high levy category had risen by £0.075 (£0.037-0.115, p < 0.001) per litre-a 31% pass through rate-whilst prices of intervention drinks in the low levy category and no levy category had fallen and risen by smaller amounts, respectively. Whilst the product size of branded high levy and low levy drinks barely changed after implementation of the SDIL (-7 mL [-23 to 11 mL] and 16 mL [6-27ml], respectively), there were large changes to product size of own-brand drinks with an increase of 172 mL (133-214 mL) for high levy drinks and a decrease of 141 mL (111-170 mL) for low levy drinks. The number of available drinks that were in the high levy category when the SDIL was announced was reduced by 3 (-6 to 12) by the implementation of the SDIL. Equivalent models for control drinks provided little evidence of impact of the SDIL. These results are not sales weighted, so do not give an account of how sugar consumption from drinks may have changed over the time period. The results suggest that the SDIL incentivised many manufacturers to reduce sugar in soft drinks. Some of the cost of the levy to manufacturers and importers was passed on to consumers as higher prices but not always on targeted drinks. These changes could reduce population exposure to liquid sugars and associated health risks.

It is important to understand the role of beverages in population dietary intake in order to give relevant advice. Population estimates were derived from one-day food recall dietary data from 12,153 participants in the 2011–2012 Australian National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey. Almost all Australians (99.9%) consumed at least one beverage on the day of the survey, accounting for 16.6% of the total energy intake for adults (aged 19 years and over) and 13.0% for children (aged 2–18 years). Similarly, beverages contributed 26–29% to calcium intake, 22–28% to vitamin C intake, and 35–36% to sugar intake. Water was consumed on the day of the survey by 84.1% of Australian adults and 90.5% of children. For adults, the greatest beverage contributors to total energy intake were alcoholic drinks (5.6%), coffee (3.1%), and soft drinks (1.9%), and for children, plain milk (3.1%), flavoured milk (2.8%), and fruit juice (2.6%). Coffee (10.6%) made the greatest contribution to calcium intake for adults; and plain milk (9.9%) and flavoured milk (7.6%) for children. The greatest contributors to vitamin C intake were fruit juice (13.4%) and alcoholic drinks (6.1%) for adults; and fruit juice (23.4%) for children. For total sugar intake, soft drinks (8.0%), coffee (8.4%), and fruit juice (5.9%) made the highest contribution for adults; and fruit juice (9.8%) and soft drinks (8.7%) for children. The type and amount of beverage consumption has considerable relevance to dietary quality for Australians.