Fruit juices and smoothies are set to shrink, after Public Health England (PHE) identified a portion cap as a key way to tackle damaging levels of sugar.
In an exclusive interview with The Grocer, PHE chief nutritionist Dr Alison Tedstone said she believed many fruit juice and smoothie products for adults and kids were far too big to be consumed as single portions.
Tedstone also claimed many products labelled for sharing were often being consumed in one sitting, fuelling the obesity crisis.
Fruit juices and smoothies with more than 75% natural fruit juice escaped the net of the government’s soft drinks sugar levy but The Grocer revealed last week that talks with suppliers had begun after the category, along with dairy drinks, was included in PHE’s voluntary reformulation plans.
It has emerged dairy drinks, like other sectors in previous talks, have already been given a target to reduce sugar by 20% by 2020, or face being added to the sugar levy, with Tedstone saying: “The amount of sugar in some milkshakes and in some coffee drinks is indefensible.”
PHE admitted it faced a tougher challenge with fruit juice, with suppliers warning 100% fruit juice cannot be reformulated without losing its classification.
Although Tedstone said it was too soon to say what PHE would propose, it is believed the proposed cap will mean many supermarket products that are commonly in 450ml or larger sizes will come under pressure to shrink.
Campaign group Action on Sugar has called for a ban on all fruit juice and smoothie products over 150ml, the amount recommended in PHE’s Eatwell and 5 a day guidance.
The move by PHE follows a similar call for a portion cap on yoghurts.
In March PHE finalised a proposed portion cap for a single-serve yoghurt of 120kcal based on a sales weighted average, with a 175kcal maximum.
“I could envisage this also going across fruit juices,” said Tedstone. “That would be across all products not just for children. We all know there are some products that are marketing as to be shared but are not really consumed that way. I think it is wrong to say that fruit juice is entirely on the side of the angels.”
Suppliers have raised concerns that a crackdown on fruit and fruit-based drinks could harm the cause of trying to get consumers to hit their 5 a day.
One supplier source involved in the talks said PHE had overestimated how easy it was to take sugar out of fruit juices and smoothies.
“They point to the work done by supermarkets such as Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco in taking sugar out of soft drinks. But they misunderstand that you can’t reformulate 100% fruit juice and still call it 100% fruit juice.
“There are also big issues about whether we should be encouraging consumers to have less without that having a detrimental impact on the 5 a day target.”
Plans to reduce the size of smoothies and fruit juice drinks also come amid controversy over the shrinking of products, after a report by the Office for National Statistics this week found manufacturers had shrunk 2,529 products over the past five years while keeping prices the same.
It claimed chocolate, confectionery, jams and syrups have seen the most items downsized, leading to criticism from the likes of Which? that companies had reduced the size of products without reducing the cost.
Tedstone was critical of the ONS for not flagging up the health benefits.
“We should be celebrating shrinkflation,” she said. “We should be concentrating on the health benefits of reducing portion sizes.”
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