Top Editors ... Developments in world juice

Title: Developments in world juice
Date: 19/03/2007
Autor: By Claire Rowan

Super fruits and super juices were front of mind in Barcelona, Spain in
october as over 400 delegates from all over the world met to discuss the lastest developments and trends

As standard fruit juice sales and those of sugar-filled carbonates stagnate, the more innovative products on the market that extol their heaith benefits and offer pure indulgent and interesting blends are experiencing strong demand.

"I think we are going to see even more fruit juices that are not just juices but blends, such as Britvic's J2O. Manufacturers are changing from producing cheap carbonates to soft drinks that are based on good things," said David Berryman, of the UK juice and fruit company of the same name, at the World Juice conference in Barcelona, Spain. The conference was sponsored by Elopak, which gave a paper on Exploiting Packaging to Deliver Brand Value, and Frutarom, which was demonstrating its new developments for the juice industry.
Blends that offer wellness are key drivers of the sector and one exhibitor, Palatinit, was highlighting how its latest ingredient, Palatinose, is being used by Danone for its new Danoa brand in Spain. Palatinose (isomaltulose) is a carbohydrate with a naturally mild sweet taste that is slowly digested to provide prolonged energy release with a low glycaemic response. It is blended with fruit and milk in Danoa, which claims to provide consumers with long lasting energy release.
Mr Berryman speculated about the many different opportunities open to juice manufacturers. "When you look at the contents of juices there is an abundance of vitamins, anthocyanins, and minerals etc, which are boosting demand," he said. "But juics don't contain any of the 'good fats' that are now in the news, so how can we address that?"
He cited as an example the new Pommy brand of pomegranate and berry juices enriched with Omega-3 (DHA/EPA) from Sparky Brand, which is now tapping into this área and claiming to provide 20% of the recommended daily allowance of Omega-3 fatty acids.
"Manufacturers could also turn to juices from palm fruits (rather than normal deciduous trees), such as Acai from Brazil, which is naturally rich in unsaturated fat," said Mr Berryman.
Acai & Sour Cheny The Acai fruit can boast one of the highest Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) levels of any fruit, according to Yannick Le Mintier, European managing director of Bolthouse do Brazil, which has built a new plant in northern Brazil for the processing of Acai.
"According to analysis by Brunswick Laboratories in the USA, Acai has 472 ORAC units per gramme of edible fruit, whereas pomegranate has just 106 units," said Mr Le Mintier in Barcelona. The fruit oxidises rapidly so has to be picked early in the morning (from barges along the Amazon River). It is said naturally to contain high levels of anthocyanins, polyphenols, phytosterols, fibre, vitamins E, C & B, calcium phosphorous, and potassium among other nutrients, as well as Omega-3, 6 & 9.
Bolthouse processes the 10% of useable pulp from each fruit into a 'fine' grade of fruit purée, which features around just 5% of solid parts; compared with 11 to 14% for 'grosso' grade; and 14% and above for 'popular' grade. In the USA, the company has recently launched its own Acai beverage called Bom Dia blended in three different flavours: pomegranate, mangosteen and cacao, and is currently exploring the potential of the fruit in Europe.
Similarly, Aroma Bursa Fruit Juices & Food Industry Inc of Turkey gave a paper extolling the virtues of Turkey's indigenous Sour Cherry, which is claimed to have both health promoting and disease risk reduction properties. Again packed with polyphenols, anthocyanins, bioflavanoids, kaempferol and quercetin, Sour Cherry is said to have an ORAC valué of over 120 units per gramme. It works well blended with another fruit such as apple, which Aroma also produces at its plant in Turkey where it has a fruit processing capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year.

AntioxRJants and claims
A high antioxidant content is being claimed for most fruits in a bid to stimulate their healthy appeal and, as Mr Berryman pointed out, new Juices drawing on the latest new 'super' fruits almost sell themselves without the need for advertising due to the newspaper articles highlighting what is hailed as the latest 'super discovery'.
"For instance, there is a lot of talk and not enough evidence at the moment to suggest that the new fruit, Goji berry (from Tibet and Mongolia), will get rid of cellulite," said Mr Berryman. "However, there is a lot more and better research available to support the fact that drinking fruit and vegetable Juices in general can cut the onset of Alzheímer's disease by as much as 76% due to the presence of antioxidants."
Finally, 'can fruit Juices do anything to help save the planet?' was a question posed by Mr Berryman. He suggested that if juices could be sourced from fruits grown and farmed in a way that could protect the rain forest - as low growing trees under the high canopy, for example - the juice industry would have yet another string to add to its marketing bow.

World Juice Awards
Winner of the World Juice Innovation Award this year was Hero Nederland's Fruit2Day range of fruit Juices and juice purées with small fruit pieces, which are packed in novel single serve packs in the shape of two fruits.
Developed in conjunction with Garriere, the fruit products sourcing company, the range includes Strawberry & Orange; Mango & Peach; Pineapple & Banana and Pear & Passionfruit in a one shot, daily dose portion. It was comrnended by the judges for creating a totally new mouthfeel for the sector that gave the sensation to consumers of both eating and drinking at the same time. The award was received by Ulrich von der
Linden of Garriere who highlighted the challenge the company had overcome to source the appropriate mango variety for blendinq with peach and the tiny pieces of pineapple that contribute to the mouthfeel of the product.
The Best Innovation in Processing & Packaging was picked up by Italpack for the packaging for Ocean Spray's range of chilled Cranberry Juice Drinks, which feature windows on the front and back of the cartons. The windows include measurements designed to guide consumers in pouring the correct amount of juice in order to make one of the recommended five daily portions of fruit and vegetables.


Natural citrus flavours for juice
Natural orange and grapefruit flavours -soon to be followed by lime, lemon and tangerine - are now available for juice manufacturers from Frutarom following the company's developments in cold press and fíltering technology.
Frutarom has taken the juice and peel oils from fruit juice production and further processed them using new methods of distillation, extraction and chromatography to create the new Citrazest generation of flavours. Created without the need for extensive heat treatment, which can cause thermal degradation of the citrus volatiles, Citrazest has an exceptionally fresh and refreshing taste profile that is 100% natural and 100% from the named fruit.
Under normal conditions extraction can alter the flavour profile of citrus products because of the heat treatment involved," explained Wolfgang Ruhl, senior flavourist, Frutarom, at the launch of Citrazest at the World Juice conference. "Citrazest flavours are concentrated under a vacuum and using mechanical extraction, which gives a more natural flavour and protects the delicate volatiles."
Citrazest flavours, which are highly stable and of consistent quality, can then be added back to the fruit juice during processing (without any need for labelling) to impart the full flavour of the juice in the finished product.
Frutarom has added to its new Citrazest natural flavour concept for fruit Juices with the development of Hyperpure. Using a complex system of micro-filtration, through which the citrus oil passes, Hyperpure can achieve a reduction of almost 100% in the contaminant concentration from agricultural residues to enhance the citrus flavour still further. Hyperpure accentuates the clean round citrus flavour profile of the fruit juice.

This article was reproduced with permission from Food & Beverage
International (copyright Haydon Jackson Publishing Ltd)
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