Fruit juices are prepared from fruit juice concentrates or pulps with or without sugar, organic acid (citric or ascorbic acid) and flavors depending upon the applicable regulations. Other ingredients may include some starches, colors (where permitted), preservative, and vitamins.
The main ingredient of fruit juices is either juice concentrate and/or pulp (frozen or aseptically packed). The addition of sweetener (like cane sugar), is permitted in some juices as per the applicable regional standards. Some stabilizers (like guar gum, carboxy methyl cellulose or xanthan gum) are also permitted in juices, to increase the mouth feel or to produce homogeneous products with no or little pulp separation. Fruther, some preservative (potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate) to increase or stable shelf life and some natural or artificial colors are also allowed in some or all types of juices.
Written By: Shahid Hafeez Khan, (QA & Product Development Manager) Supported By: Shaima Bait Faraj (Assistant Product Development Manager), A’Safwah Dairy & Beverage, Subsidiary of DCF Co.(SAOG), Salalah, Sultanate of Oman.
Fruit juices are prepared from fruit juice concentrates or pulps with or without sugar, organic acid (citric or ascorbic acid) and flavors depending upon the applicable regulations. Other ingredients may include some starches, colors (where permitted), preservative, and vitamins.
The main ingredient of fruit juices is either juice concentrate and/or pulp (frozen or aseptically packed). The addition of sweetener (like cane sugar), is permitted in some juices as per the applicable regional standards. Some stabilizers (like guar gum, carboxy methyl cellulose or xanthan gum) are also permitted in juices, to increase the mouth feel or to produce homogeneous products with no or little pulp separation. Fruther, some preservative (potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate) to increase or stable shelf life and some natural or artificial colors are also allowed in some or all types of juices.
The purpose of this report was to see the properties of products like, volume of packs, nutritional claims, appealing of bottle, characteristic of bottles, declared shelf life and chemical composition (acidity, pH and Brix). The other purpose of this report was to see the applicability of various regional standards by various manufacturers. Following standards should be considered in this regards
- Labeling of prepackaged Food Stuffs: GSO 9/2007
- Expiration period of Food stuffs: GSO 150/2007
- Preservative permitted for use in food stuffs: GSO356/1994
- Emulsifier, stabilizer and thickeners permitted for use in food product GSO-381
The samples of various main manufactures (table 1) were collected from Lulu Hyper market and KMT in Salalah, Oman. Samples were then analyzed in Lab (A’Safwah Dairy plant lab). The Analytical procedures adopted for chemical testing were recommended standard procedures.
Table 1
Product Comparison Analysis:
Note: We prepare this report by careful study of all the applicable regional standards (i.e. GSO), but still if there is any issue, we regret for that. This report is only for informational purpose and cannot be used for any other purpose in any case.
