07-Aug-2014
Fresh Coconut Water (Photo: Phu Thinh Co/Flickr)
Related tags: Coconut water, Zico, Vita Coco
Coconut water supplier ITI Tropicals claims that around 15% of coconut water sold in the US is adulterated with unlabeled added sugars – and is calling for industry action to retain consumer trust.
RELATED NEWS:
Vita Coco CEO: ‘Strong UK rival can help us build £250m coconut water category’
'Wriggle room' for trendy coconut water despite rising nut prices – Mintel
‘Brands that rubbish other brands...I don’t get it!’: Vita Coco UK CEO Giles Brook
Gert Van Manen, president of iTi Tropicals, told BeverageDaily.com last night that – following comments Vita Coco executive Giles Brook who referenced UK brands with added sugar in this interview for our site – his company chose to test the most prominent US brands.
Another factor that raised New Jersey-based iTi’s suspicions was unduly high declared sugar levels in certain brands inconsistent with freshly collected coconut water – so the firm paid Krueger Food Laboratories to conduct analyses.
These determined that there are basically two categories of coconut water – no added sugar (Coco Libre, Naked, Zico, Zola fall into this category) and added sugar (Goya and Vita Coco).
Van manen insists that all the leading brands, Zico, Naked, Vita Coco, Purity Organics, Zola, Goya, label their products correctly, and applauds Goya and Vita Coco for flagging-up added sugar.
Alleged adulteration with corn, beer, cane and rice sugars...
Other brands don’t, he insists. Van Manen declines to name names, but says iTi (which sells 100% pure coconut water in bulk) is unfairly competing with rivals that adulterate the water with sugars from corn, beet, cane and rice to cut costs.
Van Manen claims that 12 canned and bottled beverages packaged in Thailand and tested by Krueger are suspect; by contrast the coconut water that iTi (for example) imports from Philippines and Indonesia comes from GFSI-certified facilities that are socially audited. The leading brands use such reputable supplies.