Stuart Shotton, consultancy services manager at FoodChain Europe, said: “The new regulations, which will be law very soon, have had no transitional period, and by 16 May 2011, all fruit juices and nectars will have to comply with changes to labelling and meeting minimum Brix levels. Some manufacturers may not be aware of the new legal requirements and could face prosecution for not complying.”
Aimed mainly at ‘fruit juices from concentrates’, the regulations now require that mixtures of pure fruit juices and concentrate must be labelled ‘partially from concentrates’. In addition, all fruit juices from concentrate will have to meet minimum Brix levels, which has previously not been a legal requirement.
“Although many fruit juice from concentrate manufacturers may well be working to their own Brix levels, from May there will be a legal minimum in place which manufacturers need to be aware of, since the new regulation may mean increased enforcement checks from both Trading Standards and Environmental Health,” said Shotton. “In the UK, Defra has asked the authorities to take a pragmatic approach if the minimum levels are not met following analysis, but FoodChain Europe would advise manufacturers to definitely check specifications to avoid potential prosecution and product recall.”
Source: FoodChain Europe
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