At a recent consumer meeting where breakfast was served, the only orange juice offered were bottles of an orange/mango combination from Nantucket Nectars.
MrConsumer noticed a number of other attendees and consumer advocates grabbing this drink, which was also labeled “all natural”. Upon closer inspection, the label contained several inconspicuous surprises:
*MOUSE PRINT:
The words “juice cocktail” are in tiny, tiny print on the front lower left of the bottle, and the fact the product only contains 20% juice is on the back. Using the terms “all natural” and “nectar” may also lead many people to conclude this is a 100% juice product.
In fact, the first two ingredients listed on the back of the label are water and sugar, and indeed they are “all natural”. Just how much sugar is in each bottle? An unbelievable 66 grams — which is roughly equivalent to over 16 teaspoons of sugar!
How sweet (and healthy) it isn’t. Many “juices” on the market are not pure juice, but this one seemed particularly surprising.
Under federal law, if a product is not 100% juice, it must be called “juice drink, juice cocktail or juice beverage.” There appears to be no minimum type size requirement for those terms in most cases.
If I have something labeled “Cocktail” it had better have a shot of vodka in it! Happy 4th of July Edgar!
A donut has less sugar than this drink
Yeah….”The Juice Guys.” Had a great idea and then dumped it off 15 or so years ago to Ocean Spray and it has been bought and sold a few times since then. Classic example of a creative small label and then taking the money and run when a good offer comes in (I’d do it) and then watching the corporate types just make it a clone of their conglomerate product lines.
Always read the labels.
I don’t see the problem. Nectar is not the same as juice. It’s an unregulated BS term much like the other ones you call out. I would not assume this is juice unless the word “juice” is prominently displayed. After all, if it is all juice, why would the package hide this information? I once bought a drink in a beautiful bottle claiming to have something to do with tangerine before later reading “contains no juice” on the label. That is a little bit worse, but even then I only blame myself for not checking. Plus I was just looking for something to drink on short notice and didn’t care much what was in it.
It does contain juice, it does say “juice cocktail” on the front of the label (and that print is not as small as you make it out to be), so I don’t follow your complaint.
Okay, to me “nectar” almost sounds more pure than juice..
It has giant oranges or mangos on the front on some farm as if it were picked by farmer bob himself, and hand-squeezed just for you..
Also it says “all natural” right next to those fruits..
It really looks like to me they are trying to make you think it is just 100% tasty orange/mango juice.. Then they only reveal that it is 20% real juice and 80% fake juice on the back in smallish print..
And yes I know they *technically* covered their asses by saying “juice cocktail”, but this site isn’t usually about companies breaking the law; it is usually about companies doing every thing *technically* right, but still trying to be as sneaky as legally possible..
All the nectars I have seen in stores, some organic and some not, have had fruit juice with added water and sugar, but slightly thicker than regular juice cocktails. I think they had some fruit puree as the thickener. If anyone actually produces a product purely of actual flower nectar, I don’t think I’ve seen it.
This link shows “the term ‘nectar’ is generally accepted as the common or usual name in the U.S. and in international trade for a diluted juice beverage that contains fruit juice or puree, water, and may contain sweeteners”.
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/Juice/ucm072602.htm