Earlier this year, the FDA issued a qualified health claim, stating supplements containing a daily serving of 500 mg of whole fruit cranberry may now use a qualified health claim on their labels marketing materials.
These health claims only apply to whole fruit cranberry, Fruit D’Or has said, and not to other forms of the fruit. “The FDA’s qualified health claim is confirmation that not all cranberry is the same. It’s not the components of the fruit … it’s not just the juice … it’s not only the soluble PAC or organic acids … it’s the whole fruit,” said Jean Leclerc, director of Sales and Business Development for Fruit d’Or.
The FDA authorised three wording options including, “Limited scientific evidence shows that by consuming 500 mg each day of cranberry dietary supplement, healthy women who have had a urinary tract infection (UTI) may reduce their risk of recurrent UTI.”
The company points out commonly processed forms of cranberry, such as powder made from just the skin and seeds, or pressed cranberry juice, are not considered whole fruit cranberry, and cannot be sold with the FDA’s approved claims.
The company has provided guidelines to help brands determine the authenticity and purity of cranberry ingredients. “The first step is to confirm that your cranberry ingredient contains both types of PACs. If it contains only soluble PACs, it’s probably just cranberry juice powder or a solvent extract being passed off as whole fruit cranberry powder,” said Lukawski.
Whole fruit cranberry powder can also be DNA fingerprinted. “All Fruit d’Or cranberry ingredients undergo TRU-ID Purity-IQ sequential barcoding for authenticity which is necessary to help fight against adulteration,” Lukawski said.
Whole fruit cranberry powder can also degrade over time, degrading the total PACs. Old cranberry can go rancid and turn brown due to its natural oil content. Companies can perform stability testing on the total PACs of their cranberry powders.
