THE COUNCIL OF THE European Union has approved an official ban against adding sugars to fruit juices.

The new regulations reflect what is already an industry practice in not adding the sugars. Companies currently label those products specifically as not having added sugar.

The rules will apply to all fruit juices marketed in the EU regardless of their origin.

The relevant EU directive comes into force at the beginning of June following its publication in the Official Journal of the EU and the new rules will be applied 18 months later, after which time the addition of sugar to fruit juices “will no longer be authorised”.

While adding sugars is being banned, so is the use of the message ‘with no added sugars’ from fruit juices given that none on the market will be allowed to contain added sugar.

“Since the addition of sugars was previously allowed, it was common that food business operators labelled the absence of added sugars in the fruit juices for commercial reasons by means of nutrition claim ‘with no added sugars’,” the council said in a statement this evening.

Tomatoes have been added to the approved list of fruits used in the production of fruit juice, meaning that they will also come under these rules. The council also confirmed the importance of identifying the fruits used in the juice product’s label:

The new rules also confirm the existing law according to which each fruit from which the fruit juice is made from must be indicated in the product name. However, if the juice is produced from three and more fruits the indication of the fruits may be replaced by the words “several fruits”.