AS CONSUMERS ARE ENCOURAGED BY DIETICIANS AND
nutritionists to reduce sugar consumption, beverage
manufacturers also are heeding this call by developing
juice drinks that fit the bill.
Last year, Purchase, N.Y.-based
PepsiCo’s Tropicana brand added
new varieties to its Trop50 line of
better-for-you, stevia-sweetened
juice drinks to entice healthconscious
consumers. The Trop50
Red Orange blend of orange juice
and red orange juice, which was
released in May 2012, offers 50
percent less sugar and calories
than 100 percent juice blends, the
company says. Both Glendale,
Calif.-based Nestlé’s Juicy Juice and
Bethesda, Md.-based Honest Tea,
a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Co.,
have catered to consumer trends
by releasing juice products for
kids with less sugar content. Juicy
Juice Fruitifuls all-natural juice
drinks offer 35 percent less sugar
than the brand’s regular juice lines
and a full serving of fruit in each
single-serve carton, the company
says. Honest Tea reformulated its
Honest Kids juice drinks in 2012 by
removing the organic cane sugar
from all five varieties of the juice
line and sweetening the beverage
with added juice, the company
says. The juices now contain 30 to
42 percent juice, an increase of 12 to
26 percentage points, depending on
the variety, and 40 calories in each
6.75-ounce pouch, it says.
Overall, Chicago-based
Information Resources Inc. (IRI)
reports that dollar sales for the
refrigerated juice and juice drinks
category increased 4 percent to
more than $6.6 billion in measured
channels during the 52 weeks
ending May 19.
Orange juice remains the
No. 1 juice variety of consumer
choice, dominating nearly 50 percent
of the juice market, Agata
Kaczanowska, beverage industry
analyst for Santa Monica, Calif.-
based IBISWorld, said in Beverage
Industry’s January issue. Apple
follows at No. 2, making up
32.9 percent of the market, she
added. Following these two
flavors are grape at 5.3 percent,
cranberry at 3.5 percent, pineapple
at 2.8 percent, grapefruit at
2.6 percent, and lemon at
2.1 percent, respectively,
IBISWorld reported.
The rising star in the fruit
juice blends category in the last
year has been coconut water,
said Sarah Levesque, food and
beverage analyst for Chicagobased
Mintel, in Beverage Industry’s
January issue. The segment grew
164 percent from 2010 to 2011 in
food, drug and mass merchandise
stores excluding Walmart to $69
million and is expected to boost
total juice sales by 8 percent in the
near future, according to Mintel’s
January 2012 report, “Fruit Juice
and Juice Drinks – U.S.”
The refrigerated juice and juice
drink smoothie segment also
continued to outpace the overall
category with growth just shy of
32 percent for $701 million,
according IRI data. Adding to the
segment, Bakersfield, Calif.-based
Bolthouse Farms, a subsidiary of
Campbell Soup Co., released several
new additions to its lineup last
summer. Building on its flagship
Carrot variety, the company
has created an Orange + Carrot
blend, which offers 300 percent
more vitamin A than traditional
orange juice, the company says.
It also added two new breakfast
replacement drinks: Strawberry
Parfait Breakfast Smoothie and
Peach Parfait Breakfast Smoothie.
Source by
www.bevindustry.com