Call to shrink school juices causes headache
As concern over healthy eating has intensified, focusing on issues such as sugar and salt content, pressure has increased to rapidly push through the latest school food proposals tackling the subject, FoodManufacture.co.uk understands.
The Revised Standards for Food in Schools, which the Department for Education launched a consultation on earlier this month, include a maximum size of 150ml for fruit juice or vegetable juice to cut sugar consumption.
The consultation closes at 5pm on April 16, with a view to enshrining agreed proposals in law from the beginning of next year.
Hard to achieve
But juice suppliers are arguing that 150ml packs have so far rarely been used and that consequent changes in production and pack designs would be hard to achieve within the deadline.
“That doesn’t leave manufacturers much time,” Gavin Partington, director general of the British Soft Drinks Association, said. “There aren’t that many companies that produce a pure juice at 150ml on the commercial market. The challenge of course is that 200ml is more widely available.”
Some were considering switching to supplying 200ml juice-based drinks instead of juices, because the proposals allowed for larger pack and can sizes for such products, he said.
They allow for combination drinks of up to 330ml in size, containing added vitamins or minerals, but no more than 5% added sugars or honey or 150ml fruit content. Fruit juice combination drinks must be at least 45% fruit juice.
Increased pressure
The school food proposals, plus wider sugar consumption concerns, had increased pressure on manufacturers to reduce pack sizes for soft drinks across other industry sectors, one packaging firm claimed.
“Our smaller carton pack formats, such as 150ml, which is popular in the Far East, are definitely gaining more interest in the UK,” said Imelda Harrington, key accounts manager, SIG Combibloc.
“Customers that produce juice for schools, for example, are already looking at smaller pack sizes in response to portion control concerns and forthcoming changes to school food proposals. Our 180ml carton pack is now available too and we have had greater interest in this size for the first time in the UK.”
Aside from the commercial problems raised by shifting to smaller packs, Partington supported the idea as one solution to encourage healthier diets. “It’s absolutely right that industry has been looking at reduced pack sizes as a way to reduce calorie consumption.”
