2 replies to this topic

[josephinetanxl@gmail.com]

Hi, I noticed that in codexstan2000 there were two columns, 1 for brix for reconstituted juice from concentrate, 1 for single strength juice not from concentrate. Whereas in codexstan2005, there is only "Minimum Brix Level for Reconstituted Fruit Juices
and Reconstituted Purée". May I know what is the difference? I understand that calculation of juice content is by taking brix of concentrate to divide by brix of single strength. But if I have a mango puree at 20%w/ dosage in the formulation, and its brix is 14.0, what is its juice content?  I am confused as to whether to take it as it is, meaning, 20%w/v would yield a 20% juice content product, OR, to take its puree brix 14 to divide by the condexstan2005 value of 13.5? Why does codexstan2005 no longer have single strength brix not from concentrate, does that mean we refer to reconstituted brix for juice/puree in codexstan2005 when calculating juice content? Thank you very much.

[pHruit]

Single strength brix for not-from-concentrate (NFC) juices is effectively dictated by nature - you're not able to "actively" control these except by e.g. mixing different batches of the same juice. The AIJN Code of Practice does define minimum Brix values for NFC juices, based on extensive studies of fruit over multiple origins and seasons, although there are cases where they issue short-term concessions due to unusual crop conditions - for example, periods of atypically heavy rain immediately prior to harvest can, for some fruits, lead to reduce Brix levels due to water uptake, effectively diluting the sugars in the fruits.

If you're working with a lot of juices then membership can be useful, and at €300/year it's not too expensive, by the standards of many such bodies. See www.aijn.eu

If you want more detail then SGF (www.sgf.org) make their analytical data on this available to members - you can look at graphs of many analytical parameters, some split down by origin, for various juice types. Both this and the AIJN Code of Practice documents can be very useful in helping determine the authenticity of a juice.

 

In terms of calculating the fruit content, for an NFC ingredient you can only consider the amount of juice/puree you've added - if you put 20% mango puree into your product, then that product can necessarily only be 20% mango puree.

 

The minimum Brix values for from-concentrate juice are there to effectively promote good practice / prevent misleading practices in the presentation of from-concentrate products. For example, I could make a mango drink using just concentrated mango juice and water, but if I added so much water that the end result was only 6 Brix, it would be misleading to consumers to call this 100% mango, as the Brix value is a long way below what would be typical of the fruit - in effect it would be equivalent to less than 50% actual mango.

[josephinetanxl@gmail.com]

Great and clear explanation. Thanks a lot! :):):)