European Fruit juices:
Fresh fruits as we all know are full of vitamins, and is the best drink for every time of your day, to feel all the time full of energy and health.
European fruit juices are being made from the best quality of European fruits with all the highest quality standards applied during all the production process time.
Fruit juice is a beverage made from the extraction or pressing out of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables.
In our daily life fruit juice is commonly consumed as a beverage or used as an ingredient or flavoring in foods or other beverages, such as smoothies.
One of the main reasons that European juices emerged as a popular beverage choice was the development of pasteurization methods allowed for its preservation without using fermentation (the approach used with wine production).
Fruit juices are becoming very popular in our days as an easy way to immediately increase your body energy and hydration, on the most natural way.
A main advantage of fruit juices is the fact that since they are packaged, they preserve their nutrients for a period of almost two years.
This comprises a very important aspect as these products are harvested at the peak of their ripeness and Extract just a few hours later, preserving in that way their nutrients.
On the contrary, fresh fruits are often collected a long time before their nutrient content reaches the maximum value, while it takes a long time to be sold to the potential consumers.
There is no need to mention that fruit juices are available all year round, are microbiologically safe due to sterilization and vacuum packaging as well as due to the absence of any preservatives.
Direct juice is pure juice is not from concentrate, has a 100% fruit content, and is obtained by first compressing the fetus. It contains only natural flavors and juiciness of the fruit formed and stored
during its maturation.
Unfiltered juice contains all or most of the beneficial plant substances and preserves the natural quality.
Useful features
Fruit juices contain a wide range of micro-nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.
Minerals are components of soil, groundwater, and seas. They are absorbed by plants, which are then eaten by animals and humans.
Vitamins are organic compounds that are needed by the body for their vital functions.
But what makes European Fruits and European fruit juices so special? Let’s find out!!
For the European Union the food safety sustainability, the ensuring of the highest product quality, and the ecological agriculture production process is always the biggest priority!
Below we will present you some of the most basic food safety and quality requirements that EU apply to agriculture production to ensure that the final consumer will always get to his table a completely safe, quality, and nutritional food.
- What are mandatory requirements for fresh fruits and vegetables?
Limited use of pesticides
To ensure health, food safety, and avoid any health and environmental risks the European Union (EU) has set maximum residue levels (MRLs) for pesticides in and on food products.
EU doesn’t allow any product to have a higher pesticide level than the maximum level she has set up.
This happens in order to ensure that all products being produced in EU are completely safe for consumption.
It is worth to note here that in EU many of the supermarket chains and distributors are even more strict than the EU pesticide limit and they require even lower limits of pesticides in the product from their producers and suppliers.
That means that European producers are very careful with the pesticides applypment and they use only the safest supplyments in the limited quantity.
All EU producers apply integrated pest management (IPM) to reduce the amount of pesticide they use. IPM is an agricultural pest control strategy which is also part of GLOBALG.A.P. certification. It uses natural control practices such as the application of pests’ natural enemies.
Avoiding contaminants:
What are contaminants?
Contaminants are substances, that have not been intentionally added to food but which may be present as a result of the various stages of its production, packaging, transport, or holding.
Similar to the MRLs for pesticides, the European Union has set limits for several contaminants.
EU fresh fruits and vegetable producers make sure and pay great attention during the whole production process to eliminate any risk of microbiological contamination on the fresh EU products.
That’s why the vast majority of EU agriculture producers develop and apply a HACCP plan, and most EU products bear certifications like BRC or IFS, that base on HACCP principles to ensure the product’s highest quality.
Because as we said above for the EU the biggest priority was and always will be the consumer’s safety.
Plant health and phytosanitary regulations:
Fruit and vegetables being produced in the European Union must comply with European legislation on plant health.
The European Union has laid down very strict phytosanitary requirements to prevent the spread of organisms harmful to plants and plant products in Europe.
The applying of these legal requirements are supervised by the local authorities
So all EU fruit and vegetable producers are very strictly careful about the prevention of plant health, and that’s why every fruit or vegetable or other products that becomes from them, consumers eat is completely healthy and safe.
2 How can you check that the EU products are really safe and with the highest quality?
As we mentioned above most of the EU fruits and vegetables producers are certified with the most strict food safety and quality standards that ensure the final product highest quality!
Such certifications that EU producers have are GLOBALG.A.P ,HACCP etc.
Let’s find out more below:
Certification as guarantee
As food safety is a top priority in all European food sectors, you can expect most producers implement the food safety management system based on hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP).
GLOBALG.A.P.
The most commonly requested certification scheme, essential for sale of fresh produce to and from Europe, is GLOBALG.A.P.
This pre-farmgate standard covers the whole agricultural production process from before the plant is in the ground to the unprocessed product.
GLOBALG.A.P. focuses on food safety as well as the environment, labor conditions, and product quality. ¨
To be more specific :
The purpose of the application of GLOBAL G.A.P. Fruits and Vegetables is the answer to the growing consumer concerns about issues related to:
- Food safety
- Traceability
- Quality assurance
- Workplace Health and Safety
- Field Management
- Land Management
- Lubrication Management
- Complete fight against enemies
- Plant Protection Management
- Water management
- In the new V5 version there are the following changes in requirements:
- Food safety
- Handling of Plant Protection Packaging Gaps
- Sabotage on food
- Microbiological Risks
- Environment
- Energy efficiency
- Responsible Water Use
- Pollution control
- Employee Health and Safety
- Traceability
IFS, SQF, FSSC 22000:
Another strict food safety and quality management system is IFS food standard, Safe Quality Food (SQF) programme, FSSC 22000 or other industry-developed standards.
Most of the EU fresh fruits and vegetable producers apply multiple food safety management systems and are focus on every safety production detail to ensure the the biggest food safety and health for all the EU products consumers.
In addition to the official and common requirements, specific requirements apply to niche markets such as organic fruit and vegetables.
Organic, a growing niche market
As we all know organic products are becoming more and more popular and EU is one of the biggest producers and consumer of organic products.
After being audited by an accredited certifier, you can use the EU organic logo on your products, along with the logo of the standard holder.
In 2021, the new organic Regulation will enter into force together with the new Official Control Regulation. Beside checking the compliance with European rules for imported products, it will also reinforce the controls.
Organic production rules
Producing organically means respecting the rules on organic farming. These rules are designed to promote environment protection, maintain the biodiversity of Europe and build consumer trust in organic products. These regulations govern all areas of organic production and are based on a number of key principles, such as:
- prohibition of the use of GMOs;
- forbidding the use of ionising radiation;
- limiting the use of artificial fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides;
- prohibiting the use of hormones and restrict the use of antibiotics and only when necessary for animal health.
This means that organic producers need to adopt different approaches to maintaining soil fertility and animal and plant health including:
- crop rotation;
- cultivation of nitrogen fixing plants and other green manure crops to restore the fertility of the soil
- prohibition of use of mineral nitrogen fertilisers;
- to reduce the impact of weeds and pests, organic farmers choose resistant varieties and breeds and techniques encouraging natural pest control;
- encourage the natural immunological defence of animals;
- in order to maintain animal health, organic producers need to prevent overstocking.
As we have seen above EU produces implement all the highest quality and food safety standards to attract all the customers that want to eat healthy,nutricient and delicious fresh fruits and vegetables.
So,why you have to choose European fruit juices and how they benefit you?
European fruit juices are:
- 100% natural
- made of 100% directly squeezed juice instead of thermally treated fruit concentrate with water
recovered - contain only natural sugars of the fruit and contain no added sugar and sweetener
- juices are cloudy and not Clarification by colloid-chemical or biochemical methods
- no added colorants, flavors, or preservatives
- its natural vitamin content and no added vitamins
- cold pressed, which provides essential micronutrients, vitamins and minerals.
