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Legal definition
of a smoothie
A smoothie is produced by blending the whole fruit and
a juice is the juice extracted from the fruit.
Currently there is no legal definition of a smoothie - this has allowed cheap
impostors to infiltrate the market, charge pure smoothie prices and confuse
the consumer.
A smoothie should be defined as 100% pure and adopt the same guidelines
as 100% pure juice.
Anything that is added to dilute or artificially enhance is not pure and in
the case of smoothies should be labelled as a 'smoothie drink'.
If the legislation was coherent then any 'diluted' smoothies would be labelled
smoothie drinks and would therefore ensure that the message to the consumer
was clear and concise. Today's consumer does recognise the difference between
100% pure juice and a juice drink.
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'5 a day'
Whilst the Department of Health is to be commended in
trying to increase the consumer's consumption of fruit and vegetables, surely
the consumer should be allowed to decide what they want to eat in any given
day.
Just because the DOH tells you that 1 glass of juice = 1 portion, no matter
how much you drink, it still does not take away the fact that 5 glasses =
5 portions.
Even more confusing is the fact that whilst smoothies and their purity have
not been legally defined, thus allowing the aforementioned impostors, who
can be sure what their portion count has been?
1 glass of juice or smoothie = 1 portion. Manufacturers of pure, unadulterated
products should not be prohibited of extolling the benefits of their products.
For instance, if a 250ml pure smoothie serving has 17 chunks of pineapple
and 15 strawberries per portion and we apply the guidelines of 12 chunks of
pineapple = 1 serving and 7 strawberries = 1 serving, this smoothie equates
to 3 portions in one glass and that does not include the pure fruit juice
it is blended with which = 1 portion. How many people would eat 4 portions
of fruit in one day if it were not made so easy to do so?
Surely the DOH should be encouraging the public to eat and drink their '5
a day' and leave worrying about where it comes from to the consumer. I suspect
the almost dictatorial approach adopted by the DOH will only serve to ensure
that manufacturers use every media possible to inform the public of the fact
that their product contains multiple portions.
Josephine Beach
Managing Director |
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