Pure juice proven purely bogus

Five orange juice products available on the Taiwan market that were labeled as "100 percent pure" have been discovered to be adulterated, according to a test result jointly released yesterday by People First Party lawmakers and the John Tung Foundation (董氏基金會).

"In these products, either sugar has been added or their juice contents are not as pure as they claim," said Beryl Sheu (許惠玉), a senior dietitian with the John Tung Foundation, at a press conference held by legislators Chen Chao-jung (陳朝容) and Diane Lee (李慶安).

The test was conducted by the Food Industry Research and Development Institute (食品工業發展研究所) on a total of 17 orange juice products labeled as "100 percent pure" produced by 12 companies. Of these 17 products, nine are refrigerated ones, and eight are non-refrigerated.

The five drinks determined to be adulterated are all non-refrigerated products.

1) Kings Choices 100% pure orange juice (奇豆100%鮮純柳橙原汁)

2) Kuang-Chuan orange juice 100% (光泉柳橙汁100%)

3) Cleanfield 100% orange juice (清境100%柳橙汁)

4) Ceres 100% pure fruit juice blend orange and other fruit (喜瑞100%柳橙綜合果汁)

5) Typhone pure orange juice 100% (台鳳純柳橙汁100%)

Sheu said that the additives detected in these products included sugar, corn syrup, glycine (甘胺酸) and alanine (丙胺酸).

While sugar and corn syrup can increase the sweetness of the juice, glycine and alanine are additives to replace pure juice, Sheu explained.

"Consumers have no idea what they are drinking," Sheu said. "Fruit juice made with chemical additives may taste more like fruit juice than pure fruit juice, because its flavor and color can be carefully controlled."

Lee said many consumers prefer pure fruit juices to other drinks because fruit juices are healthier, but manufacturers' abuse of the "100 percent pure" label will undermine consumers' trust toward their products.

"We urge manufacturers to be responsible to consumers of their products," Lee said.

According to data provided by the lawmakers, the market for pure fruit juices is worth some NT$4 billion per year in Taiwan, and the market share has grown to 30 percent now compared with less than 1 percent five years ago. Orange juice has been the best-seller among fruit juices.

Wu Ting-hung (吳丁宏), a section chief at the Fair Trade Commission under the Executive Yuan, promised his commission will launch an investigation into the case based on the information provided by the lawmakers.

Wu said the commission had punished two fruit juice companies in 1995 for similar reasons.

Wu Cheng-hsueh (吳政學), a consumer ombudsman at the Consumer Protection Commission, pointed out that manufacturers which do not label their products accurately are subject to fines of up to NT$150,000 according to the Food Sanitation Control Law.

If a manufacturer is found to make the same violation within a year, its business license can be revoked, Wu said.