Oishi "pomegranate" Juice

[villa_boy1]

I recently read an interesting article about Pomegranate juice and its rising popularity in the US due to its many health benefits.

If you have time, have a read, but if not here's a summary

Pomegranate is expensive but has many proven health benefits

There are many different brands of pomegranate juice on the market in the US

They vary in the amount of actual pomegranate juice they contain

The best are 100% pomegranate (freshly squeezed is better than concentrate)

The worst are made up mostly of sugar water and have lots of other cheaper juices thrown in such as apple and grape

The writer of the article argues that no matter how clear the ingredients list is on the back of the bottle that it is misleading to call it pomegranate juice and show pictures of pomegranates on the front of the bottle if pomegranate is actually only a minor ingredient.

I wanted to buy some Pomegranate juice so went into 7/11 to see what they have on offer. Great, Oishi, do a pomegranate juice in their Seiki range. I bought one (only 20 baht) and thought I'd take a look at the ingredients when I had time to translate.

My translation might not be perfect but here's what I can make out:

25% mixed fruit juice from Concentrate with Pomegranate (so I guess the rest is water?)

So what makes up the 25% concentrate juice? Surely Pomegranate, please tell me its got at least 25%?!

White Grapes - 13%

Sugar - 6.5%

Apple - 5%

Pomegranate - 4%

Red grape - 3%

Citric acid - 0.15%

Vitamin C - 0.01%

Pomegranate bits (?) - 0.0009%

Oishi is a sugar drink producer and at 20 baht you wouldn't expect to buy a drink rich in Pomegrante. However, 4% is frankly pathetic and way worse than even the worse offenders in the US. Your average Thai will probably be mislead by the packaging and name but what chance does the average foreigner have. How many can actually read and understand the Thai ingredients on the back of stuff they buy?

Can you really justify calling a juice pomegranate and showing a pomegranate on the front when it actually only contains 4%?

Does Thailand have any kind of trading standards for food and drink?

Am I the only one that is bothered by this?

Any other misleading products we should be aware of?

Anyone know of any honest brands of pomegranate juice I can buy here?

[tingtong]

if you want really, then buy the fruit and squeeze the juice yourself.

anyway, as you mentioned above, fresh is the best

[t.s]

congratulations, you have exposed what was clearly written on the back of a bottle of 20 baht juice at 7-11. what next, a detailed chemical analysis of their hot dogs or better yet orange flavoured drink?

did you know barbeque chips are actually deep fried?

the horror.

[ClaytonSeymour]

I recently read an interesting article about Pomegranate juice and its rising popularity in the US due to its many health benefits.

If you have time, have a read, but if not here's a summary

Pomegranate is expensive but has many proven health benefits

There are many different brands of pomegranate juice on the market in the US

They vary in the amount of actual pomegranate juice they contain

The best are 100% pomegranate (freshly squeezed is better than concentrate)

The worst are made up mostly of sugar water and have lots of other cheaper juices thrown in such as apple and grape

The writer of the article argues that no matter how clear the ingredients list is on the back of the bottle that it is misleading to call it pomegranate juice and show pictures of pomegranates on the front of the bottle if pomegranate is actually only a minor ingredient.

I wanted to buy some Pomegranate juice so went into 7/11 to see what they have on offer. Great, Oishi, do a pomegranate juice in their Seiki range. I bought one (only 20 baht) and thought I'd take a look at the ingredients when I had time to translate.

My translation might not be perfect but here's what I can make out:

25% mixed fruit juice from Concentrate with Pomegranate (so I guess the rest is water?)

So what makes up the 25% concentrate juice? Surely Pomegranate, please tell me its got at least 25%?!

White Grapes - 13%

Sugar - 6.5%

Apple - 5%

Pomegranate - 4%

Red grape - 3%

Citric acid - 0.15%

Vitamin C - 0.01%

Pomegranate bits (?) - 0.0009%

Oishi is a sugar drink producer and at 20 baht you wouldn't expect to buy a drink rich in Pomegrante. However, 4% is frankly pathetic and way worse than even the worse offenders in the US. Your average Thai will probably be mislead by the packaging and name but what chance does the average foreigner have. How many can actually read and understand the Thai ingredients on the back of stuff they buy?

Can you really justify calling a juice pomegranate and showing a pomegranate on the front when it actually only contains 4%?

Does Thailand have any kind of trading standards for food and drink?

Am I the only one that is bothered by this?

Any other misleading products we should be aware of?

Anyone know of any honest brands of pomegranate juice I can buy here?

Can't say I've noticed any but, you should watch out for this one.

http://pomwonderful.com/100_percent_juice.html

I tried one the other day, first time I'd seen it in the UK. Quite a sharp taste that some people wouldn't like - I didn't mind it but, my Wife hated it so, I'm not sure how it would go down with other Thais. Not cheap either, almost £2.00 for 236ml.

[rak sa_ngop]

Many of the fruit and vegetable juices in Thailand are not what they appear at first glance. The 100% vegetable beetroot juice is usually only about 15% - 20% beetroot and the rest is composed of other juices including apple juice to sweeten it.

Likewise I have even seen Thai 'cider' for sale which only contains about a small percentage of cider (5% ?) or maybe it was only apple juice. It has Cider in big letters on the carton!

Let the buyer beware (and learn to read Thai)!

Real pomegranates are on Bangkok streets at the moment.

[elkangorito]

That "stuff" called Pomegranate Juice, which is available at 7-11, tastes nothing like the Pomegranate juice I had as a kid (fresh from the tree).

As a matter of fact, I've given up buying juices in Thailand as they are usually packed with sugar. Even the bread is "borderline" acceptable, again due to the high sugar content.