This article is general information, not medical advice. It is about how to read the words on a juice pack. It is not a review of a brand, and it does not tell you which bottle to buy.

On 19 October 2026, several reports described adjudication proceedings over a drink sold as pomegranate juice. The company is not named on this page. The links name it. What follows is the wording the reports use, then the standards those words sit next to. Claims on cranberry capsules from the same day's reports are a different page: Cranberry and urinary tract infections. How "no added sugar" was read on a nutrition drink is in Pregnancy and breastfeeding nutrition drinks.

What the reports say was alleged

CNBC-TV18, 19 October 2026, says the regulator reported that the product contained 4 percent pomegranate juice concentrate and 12 percent apple juice concentrate, while the name and imagery could mislead consumers about the composition. It says the label did not adequately state that the juice was reconstituted from concentrate. It says the claim "Equivalent to 100% Fruit Juice (Reconstituted)" was flagged, and that a prominent "no added sugar" claim, next to a less prominent declaration about naturally occurring fruit sugar, could mislead consumers. It says the product had been inspected and sampled, the company's explanation was found unsatisfactory, and adjudication proceedings were sanctioned under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

NDTV Profit uses the same two concentrate figures. It says the claim "Equivalent to 100% Fruit Juice (Reconstituted)" was found non-compliant with the applicable advisory, and that "No Added Sugar" on the front of the pack sat alongside a less conspicuous declaration, on the back, that the product contains naturally occurring fruit sugar.

India Today, 19 October 2026, reports the same composition and the same two claims, and says adjudication is a different stage from the notices issued in other cases that day. It says notices alleging violations, and the start of proceedings, should not be treated as final findings of liability.

PTI, 19 October 2026, as carried by Swadesi, quotes the regulator as saying the name and imagery may mislead consumers about the composition, that the label did not adequately identify the juice as reconstituted from concentrate, and that the "equivalent to 100%" claim was non-compliant with the applicable advisory. It says the front-of-pack "No Added Sugar" line, with an inconspicuous "Contains Naturally Occurring Fruit Sugar" line on the back, is misleading. It says label declarations and claims were found to be in alleged contravention, that the explanation was unsatisfactory, and that adjudication was sanctioned.

This page has not seen the label, the sample report or the order. It does not decide the case. The percentages below are the reports' account of concentrate in the product. They are not a juice percentage this page has measured, and they are not converted here into a reconstituted-juice percentage, because the reports do not print the concentration factor.

Juice, nectar and fruit drink are three standards

The text used here is FSSAI's fruit and vegetable products chapter, version 3, 7 May 2025. It is a consolidation. The gazette prevails if a line differs.

Sub-regulation 2.3.6 defines a thermally processed fruit juice as the unfermented product obtained from sound, ripe fruit, for direct consumption. The juice may have been concentrated and later reconstituted with water suitable for keeping the essential composition and quality of the juice. The product has to keep the essential physical, chemical, organoleptic and nutritional characteristics of the fruit it comes from. The table header says acidity is expressed as citric acid, maximum percent. The pomegranate row (Punica granatum) is a minimum of 12.0 °Brix and 3.5. The apple row is a minimum of 10.0 °Brix and 3.5 (as malic acid). "Other fruit juices" and "juice of two or more fruits" are each a minimum of 10.0 °Brix and 3.5 in that table. Brix is a soluble-solids measure. It is not, by itself, the percentage of fruit in the bottle.

Sub-regulation 2.3.9 defines a thermally processed fruit nectar as a product for direct consumption made by blending fruit juice, pulp or concentrate, or the edible part of sound ripe fruit, with water, nutritive sweeteners and other ingredients appropriate to the product. In the table opened here, orange nectar and pineapple nectar have a minimum fruit-juice content of 40 percent. Mango, guava, peach, pear, apricot, "other fruit nectar" and mixed fruit nectar are at 20 percent. Pomegranate is not a named row in that nectar table. This page will not invent a pomegranate-nectar percentage beyond the "other fruit" row.

Sub-regulation 2.3.10 defines a thermally processed fruit beverage, fruit drink or ready-to-serve fruit beverage as a product prepared from juice or pulp, or from concentrated juice or pulp, of sound mature fruit. Water, peel oil, fruit essences and flavours, salt, sugar, invert sugar, liquid glucose, milk and other ingredients appropriate to the product may be added. The minimum fruit-juice content is 5.0 percent for a lime or lemon drink and 10.0 percent for every other beverage or drink in that clause.

The name on the front is the first check. "Juice", "nectar" and "drink" are not interchangeable words in this chapter. A picture of one fruit, on a liquid that the ingredient list shows is mostly another fruit, is the question the reports raise about name and imagery. Regulation 4(3) of the Labelling and Display Regulations, 2020, compendium version VIII, 9 September 2025, says a label shall not describe or present a food in a manner that is false, misleading or deceptive, or is likely to create an erroneous impression about its character.

"Reconstituted" and the word "100%"

Clause (8) of sub-regulation 2.3.6 says products covered by that standard are labelled under the Labelling and Display Regulations, 2020. In addition, the ingredient list puts the word "reconstituted" against the name of the juice that is reconstituted from concentrate. If added nutritive sweeteners exceed 15 g per kg, the product is labelled as sweetened juice.

That is the same instruction in the advisory of 3 June 2024, file RCD-02004/1/2023-Regulatory-FSSAI-Part(5). The advisory says it had come to FSSAI's notice that reconstituted fruit juices were being sold with a "100% fruit juices" claim. It says the Advertising and Claims Regulations, 2018, have no provision for a "100% Fruit Juice" claim. It says the claim "100%" is misleading, and is not allowed, where the major ingredient is water and the fruit being claimed is present only in a limited concentration, or where the juice is reconstituted using water and fruit concentrate or pulp. It tells food businesses to remove the "100% fruit juices" claim from the label and from advertisements immediately, and to exhaust existing pre-printed packaging before 1 September 2024.

The reports describe a 2026 product still using "Equivalent to 100% Fruit Juice (Reconstituted)". They say the regulator treated that claim as not in line with the applicable advisory. This page has not seen the advisory the order relied on. The June 2024 document is the one opened here that speaks to reconstituted juice. "Equivalent to" is not a permission this page found in that advisory.

A press release dated 30 May 2025 is wider than juice. It says FSSAI has asked food businesses not to use "100%" on labels, packaging and promotions. It says the term is not defined or referenced in the Act, the rules or the regulations, and that it can give an impression of absolute purity or superiority. It points to regulation 4(1), that claims must be truthful, unambiguous, meaningful and not misleading, and to regulation 10(7), that an advertisement or claim shall not undermine another manufacturer's products to influence the consumer. The press release says an advisory was issued. This page is quoting the press release. It has not opened a separate May 2025 advisory PDF.

How to read "no added sugar"

Regulation 6 of the Advertising and Claims compendium dated 14 December 2022 says a claim that sugars have not been added may be made only if all of these are true:

  • No sugars of any type have been added. The examples named are sucrose, glucose, honey, molasses, corn syrup, and others of that kind.
  • The food contains no ingredients that contain sugars as an ingredient. The examples named are jams, jellies, sweetened chocolate and sweetened fruit pieces.
  • The food contains no ingredients containing sugars that substitute for added sugars. The examples named are non-reconstituted concentrated fruit juice and dried fruit paste.
  • The sugars content of the food itself has not been increased above what the ingredients contribute, by some other means. The example named is enzymes used to hydrolyse starches and release sugars.

If sugars are naturally present, the same regulation says the label also carries "CONTAINS NATURALLY OCCURRING SUGARS". Regulation 6(4) says a disclaimer used with a non-addition claim has to be conspicuous and legible.

The reports' back-label phrase is "Contains Naturally Occurring Fruit Sugar", placed less prominently than the front-of-pack "No Added Sugar". This page does not treat those two sentences as the same line. It also does not decide, from a news story, whether every one of the four conditions was met. The practical step on a pack in your hand is the ingredient list, in the order the label prints it, and the place and size of any sugar sentence. The front of the pack is not the list.

The labelling regulations define sugars as all monosaccharides and disaccharides, and added sugars as monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods and beverages. "No added sugar" is not the same claim as "sugar free". A "free of sugars" content claim, in Schedule I of the advertising compendium, is a different numeric test: not more than 0.5 g of sugars per 100 g for solids or per 100 ml for liquids.

Whole fruit, and a child's portion

The Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024, say on the My Plate note to prefer fresh fruit and avoid juices. In the beverages chapter they say most commercially available fruit juices may contain varying amounts of fruit pulp, as low as 7 percent, and that fresh fruit juices, even without added sugar, cannot be equated to whole fresh fruit. Whole fruit also provides fibre. A footnote says whole fruits are preferable, and that freshly made juice for one person should be from not more than 100 to 150 g of fruit.

The same book says one may consume sugar, restricted to 25 to 30 g a day, with cereals reduced if sugar is taken. Added sugar is restricted to less than 5 percent of daily energy. A juice with added sugar counts toward that. A juice whose sweetness is only the fruit still is not the whole fruit. The guidelines also say, in a label-reading passage, that a product may state it is made with real fruit pulp or juice with 10 percent or less fruit in the example they give, and may still contain added sugar. That is the guidelines' illustration of a misleading impression. The 10 percent figure in the fruit-drink standard, above, is the standard's minimum for a drink that is actually named as a drink. A "real fruit" line does not raise a drink into a juice.

For a child, the guidelines' direction is the fruit, not a standing juice. This page does not set a household ban, and it does not set a medical juice portion. Someone who has been given a portion by their own clinician should use that.

Read the name, then the ingredient list, then any "100%" or "no added sugar" line against the list. Juice, nectar and fruit drink are different standards. A picture of one fruit does not make the liquid that fruit. Whole fruit is the guidelines' preference.

This article is general information, not medical advice.

Sources

Questions

What did the 19 October 2026 reports say about the juice?

CNBC-TV18, NDTV Profit, India Today and a PTI copy carried the same day describe adjudication proceedings over a pomegranate juice. They say the regulator's account was that the product contained 4 percent pomegranate juice concentrate and 12 percent apple juice concentrate, that the name and imagery could mislead buyers about that composition, and that the label did not adequately say the juice was reconstituted from concentrate. They say the claim "Equivalent to 100% Fruit Juice (Reconstituted)" was treated as not in line with the applicable advisory. They say "No Added Sugar" was prominent on the front, while a line about naturally occurring fruit sugar sat less prominently on the back. PTI says the company's explanation was found unsatisfactory and that adjudication was sanctioned. India Today says the start of proceedings is not a final finding of liability. This page has not seen the order.

What is the difference between a fruit juice, a nectar and a fruit drink?

In the fruit-products chapter opened for this draft, a fruit juice under sub-regulation 2.3.6 is the juice of the fruit, which may have been concentrated and later reconstituted with water. Pomegranate juice in that table has a minimum of 12.0 °Brix. A nectar under 2.3.9 is juice or pulp blended with water and nutritive sweeteners. "Other fruit nectar" and mixed fruit nectar in that table have a minimum fruit-juice content of 20 percent. A fruit beverage, fruit drink or ready-to-serve drink under 2.3.10 is prepared from juice or pulp and may contain water and sugar. The minimum fruit-juice content there is 10.0 percent, or 5.0 percent for lime or lemon. The name on the pack is what tells you which standard the manufacturer is using. This page does not convert a concentrate percentage into a juice percentage.

Can a reconstituted juice say 100 percent?

An FSSAI advisory dated 3 June 2024 says the Advertising and Claims Regulations, 2018, have no provision for a "100% Fruit Juice" claim, and that "100%" is misleading where the main ingredient is water and the fruit is present in a limited amount, or where the juice is reconstituted from water and concentrate or pulp. The ingredient list has to put "reconstituted" against the juice that was made from concentrate. If added nutritive sweeteners exceed 15 g per kg, the product is labelled sweetened juice. The advisory told businesses to remove the "100% fruit juice" claim from labels and advertisements, and to exhaust pre-printed packs before 1 September 2024. A press release dated 30 May 2025 asks businesses not to use "100%" on food labels more generally, because the term is not defined in the Act or the rules.

When can a pack say no added sugar?

Regulation 6 of the Advertising and Claims Regulations says a non-addition claim for sugars is allowed only when no sugars of any type have been added, no ingredient contains sugars as an ingredient, no ingredient substitutes for added sugars, and the food's own sugars have not been increased by some other means. The examples of substitutes include non-reconstituted concentrated fruit juice and dried fruit paste. If sugars are naturally present, the label also carries "CONTAINS NATURALLY OCCURRING SUGARS". A disclaimer with a non-addition claim has to be conspicuous and legible. The reports' phrase is "naturally occurring fruit sugar". That is the reports' wording. It is not automatically the sentence the regulation prints.

Is juice the same as whole fruit for children?

The Dietary Guidelines for Indians say to prefer fresh fruit and avoid juices, on the My Plate note. They say commercially available fruit juices can contain fruit pulp as low as 7 percent, and that juice cannot be equated to whole fresh fruit because whole fruit also provides fibre. A footnote says freshly made juice for one person should come from not more than 100 to 150 g of fruit, and that whole fruit is preferable. Added sugar, where the guidelines allow it, is restricted to 25 to 30 g a day and to less than 5 percent of daily energy. A juice box is part of that sugar, not a free extra.

Is this medical advice?

No. It is a reading of four news reports, two FSSAI documents on the word "100%", the fruit-products chapter, the labelling compendium and the advertising-claims compendium, and the Dietary Guidelines for Indians. It is general information, not medical advice. A named dietitian has not reviewed this draft. It does not tell you to buy or avoid a brand.

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