Take a walk down any supermarket drinks aisle and you'll come across a huge range of products that contain fruit or fruit flavouring. In New Zealand, Frucor make most of the leading fruit juice and drink brands, including 'Just Juice', 'Fresh Up', 'Citrus Tree', 'Stefan's', 'McCoy' and 'Twist'. While at first glance all of these drinks might appear similar, they're actually very different. In New Zealand, there are three broad categories for drinks that contain fruit.

1. ‘Fruit Juice’	contain 100% fruit juice  (read more)
2. ‘Fruit Drinks’	contain some fruit juice  (read more)
3. ‘Fruit Flavoured Drinks’	contain the least fruit juice, sometimes none (read more)

If you’re unsure as to whether you’re buying a fruit juice or fruit drink, just check out the label. Laws regulating the manufacture of food and drink state that ingredients must be declared, so if you are ever in doubt about what you are about to drink, just look for the fruit content and read the ingredients on the pack. The price is also a good guide!

(i) Fruit Juice Not made From Concentrate (NFC)

This type of juice is made by squeezing the fruit to extract the juice and has a similar taste and aroma to home squeezed juice. Around 6% of the juice sold in New Zealand supermarkets is NFC juice and the most popular variant is Orange juice. This juice is typically lightly pasteurised and is usually transported and stored in a chilled environment to ensure its quality is maintained. 

How to identify fruit juice not from concentrate;

• It’s typically sold from the fridge and should be kept constantly chilled
• It looks pulpy
• It generally has a shorter expiry date than juice sold from the supermarket shelf
• It has a similar taste and aroma to homesqueezed juice and the taste can vary depending on the season
• It’s premium priced

(ii) Fruit Juice Made From Concentrate (MFC)

This type of juice is made from concentrated fruit juice that's diluted back to the original strength and pasteurised before packing. Pasteurisation is a heat treating process that removes natural micro-organisms and maintains the quality of the juice. Juice made from concentrate makes up about 90% of fruit juice sales in New Zealand. 'Just Juice' and 'Fresh Up' are examples from Frucor, which contain absolutely no added sugar or preservatives. You can also buy concentrated fruit juice which is an economical format which can be diluted at home, by adding water to taste.

How to identify Fruit juice made from concentrate:

• It’s sold from the fridge and the grocery shelf
• It’s fine to store in the pantry (only before opening)
• It usually has a 9 month expiry date (in a Tetra-pak)
• It’s affordably priced

(iii) Fruit Juice blends

Some products are blends of both concentrated fruit juice and juice not from concentrate. These products make up a small proportion of the market and require chilled storage.

2. ‘Fruit Drinks’

contain some fruit juice

Fruit drinks have to contain at least 5% juice content. 5% juice is the minimum set down by the Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Code. Drinks of this type often contain sugar, flavourings, colours, preservatives and food acids. 'Twist' is a Frucor fruit drink, but contains no preservatives.

Typically, these products are cheaper to buy than fruit juice.

3. ‘Fruit Flavoured Drinks’

contain the least fruit juice, sometimes none

The fruit juice content in these drinks is less than 5% of the total volume. Fruit flavoured drinks are a blend of sugars, flavourings, colours, preservative and food acids.