The US Food and Drug Administration announced recently in a letter of enforcement discretion that it does not intend to object to the use of certain qualified health claims regarding consuming certain cranberry products and a reduced risk of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in healthy women.

The FDA responded to a health claim petition submitted on behalf of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. The petition requested that the FDA authorize a health claim regarding the relationship between the consumption of cranberry products and the reduced risk of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in healthy women. A health claim characterizes the relationship between a substance and a disease or health-related condition.

After reviewing the petition and other evidence related to the proposed health claim, the FDA determined that the scientific evidence supporting the claim did not meet the ‘significant scientific agreement’ standard required for an authorized health claim, and the petitioner agreed to have the petition evaluated as a qualified health claim petition.

Based on the FDA’s review, the agency concluded that there is limited and inconsistent credible scientific evidence to support a qualified health claim for the consumption of cranberry juice beverages and limited credible scientific evidence to support a qualified health claim for the consumption of cranberry dietary supplements and a reduced risk of recurrent UTI in healthy women. Specifically, the FDA intends to exercise its enforcement discretion regarding claims for the association between consumption of cranberry juice beverages containing at least 27% cranberry juice (most commercially available cranberry cocktails contain this amount) and cranberry dietary supplements containing at least 500 milligrams (mg) of cranberry fruit powder (100% fruit) and a reduced risk of recurrent UTI. The claims do not include other conventional foods or food products made from or containing cranberries, such as dried cranberries or cranberry sauce.

The following qualified health claims are included in the FDA’s letter of enforcement discretion:

For cranberry juice beverages
• “Limited and inconsistent scientific evidence shows that by consuming one serving (8 oz) each day of a cranberry juice beverage, healthy women who have had a urinary tract infection (UTI) may reduce their risk of recurrent UTI.”
• “Consuming one serving (8 oz) each day of a cranberry juice beverage may help reduce the risk of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in healthy women. FDA has concluded that the scientific evidence supporting this claim is limited and inconsistent.”
• “Consuming one serving (8 oz) each day of [this identified cranberry juice beverage] may help reduce the risk of recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in healthy women. FDA has concluded that the scientific evidence supporting this claim is limited and inconsistent.”
For More Information FDA

PepsiCo is trialling products encoded with invisible digital watermarks for more effective recycling, say the company. The technology is seen as something that will revolutionise mechanical sorting. The beverage giant and other packaging stakeholders are evaluating how to industrialize this solution for a more streamlined waste stream in the EU. They note that watermarks can be used in consumer engagement, supply chain visibility and retail operations.

“This technology has the potential to make life simpler for consumers because they will not have to separate their packaging and worry about which plastic polymer is which. Instead, through this trial, our product packaging will be encoded with these invisible digital watermarks, which contain information about the manufacturer, product, material type and whether the packaging is food safe,” Gareth Callan, PepsiCo’s Holy Grail Project Lead commented. “When scanned by a high resolution camera on a waste sorting line, this information helps to sort the packaging into the right stream – meaning more high quality material can be recycled, more efficiently.”

The project ‘HolyGrail 2.0’ is steered by PepsiCo together with more than 85 companies and organizations, led by the European Brands Association (AIM). The consortium aims to launch an industrial pilot to prove the viability of digital watermarks technologies. FoodIngredientsFirst

Iran exported nearly 48,000 tonnes of fruit juice valued at USD38.107 million to other countries in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-July 21), the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced.

As reported by IRNA, the exported products included fruit juices, mixtures of juice with vegetables, fruit extracts, fruit juice essential oils, non-alcoholic beverages, concentrated fruit juices, citrus juices including oranges, grapefruits, grape juice, apple juice, and pineapple juice, according to Ruhollah Latifi.

More than 35 countries were the destination for the Iranian juice exports, including Germany, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey, Pakistan, New Zealand, Russia, Norway, Turkey, and Kuwait.

According to Latifi, Pakistan with more than USD9.665 million worth of imports stood in the first place among the top export destinations, followed by Turkey with more USD6.525 million, and Afghanistan with USD6.151 million. As reported, Iran also imported 2,111 tonnes of the mentioned products worth over USD2.101 million during the said four months.

Turkey, Brazil, Belgium, UAE, Spain, Thailand, India, and Italy were the main exporters to Iran in the mentioned period. Thailand was the top juice exporter to Iran with 1,007 tonnes of pineapple juice and condensed pineapple juice worth USD2.106 sent to the Islamic country. TehranTimes

According to the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC), sales of 100% orange juice continue to show promising results. In the 4-week period ending Aug. 1, average year-over-year sales of total OJ increased 21% with 32.64 million equivalent gallons sold, per the latest Nielsen retail sales report. Sales of not-from-concentrate (NFC) OJ increased 27% for the period.

Additionally, total OJ sales for the season beginning October 2019 are up by 12%. The increase in volume movement season-to-date is roughly equivalent to about 7 million grower boxes. The increase in NFC volume sold at retail captured by Nielsen is roughly equivalent to 4.3 million grower boxes.

Total grapefruit juice sales were up by 4% for the season.

In July, the FDOC launched its 2020-21 e-commerce campaign to drive sales of 100% orange juice through online retailers, with a shift to focus specifically on NFC OJ. To date, the campaign has driven more than USD1.06 million in attributed sales and 41.3 million impressions at a return on ad spend of USD5.19.

In other FDOC news, Woman’s World and VeryWell Health published articles highlighting the FDOC-funded heart health study that showed 100% orange juice and hesperidin may help to lower blood pressure. Further promotion of the study and the benefits of hesperidin are ongoing. Source: Florida Department of Citrus & Citrus Industry Magazine