About the Australian Fruit Juice Association...

The Australian Fruit Juice Association commenced in 1975 and since this time has dealt with a raft of issues of importance to the industry including the descriptors “fresh” and “freshly squeezed” where a detailed submission was made to the then Australian Food Standards Council to present the views of industry members.

The association recommended that “fresh” should remain as the terminology to describe fruit squeezed in the presence of the consumer while “freshly squeezed” describes the juice which has been made from single strength juice and has not been subject to concentration process, does not contain preservatives and has a shelf life of no more than 30 days.

In 1990 the Australian Fruit Juice Cordial Manufacturers merged with the Australian Fruit Juice Association and similarly, the Australian Citrus Processors Association merged with the AFJA in 1997.

The introduction of the industry Code of Practice self-regulatory scheme has been one of the most important projects undertaken by the association on behalf of the fruit juice industry. It provided the Association with the means of ensuring Truth in Labelling for the industry and is now the most recognised Code in the food industry. The Trade Practices Commission, now the ACCC and the various State Health Departments have given great support to this project.

The Code applies to all fruit juices, fruit drinks and cordials as well as retail and industrial concentrates.

The AFJA is a member of the International Fruit Union and plays an active role in their committees, particularly the Technical/Codex Committee and has worked actively with the New Zealand Juice and Beverage Association.

More recently the association has proactively addressed nutrition and health issues of relevance to the industry including the development of a position paper circulated to health professionals and the publication of a scientific article in the Food Australia journal. Ongoing nutrition and health communications are planned along with a reactive program to address misinformation on the place of fruit juice in the diet.