When it comes to food packaging, fruit pictures and juice claims can leave a particular impression. Peelerz has now tweaked its packaging after a complaint challenged whether its sweets’ original “made with real fruit juice” claim gave consumers the right idea.
The Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB), in a decision dated 20 October 2026, accepted a voluntary undertaking from local distributor Clippa Sales after it removed the claim and introduced revised ingredient declarations.
A fruity claim comes under scrutiny
The complaint, lodged by Tiger Food Brands Intellectual Property Holding Company, questioned the “made with real fruit juice” wording and the prominent mango, banana and orange imagery on Peelerz gummy sweets.
The concern was that shoppers could get the impression that the named fruits were the main fruit-derived ingredients, even though concentrated apple juice appeared higher in the original ingredient lists.
Clippa Sales, which distributes the sweets manufactured by Amos Sweets, said the original wording had been replaced with “made with fruit juice concentrate”. It also submitted that the revised packaging had undergone an independent regulatory review by SGS South Africa.
The small print gets more specific
The updated packaging now spells out the percentages of fruit-derived ingredients and concentrated apple juice in each variant:
- Mango: 6.16% mango purée and 5.13% apple juice concentrate.
- Banana: 6.92% banana purée and 5.50% apple juice concentrate.
- Orange: 4.93% orange juice concentrate and 5.19% apple juice concentrate.
So, while mango and banana purée each account for a higher percentage than concentrated apple juice, the reverse is true for the orange flavour, albeit by a narrow margin.
What did the ARB decide?
The ARB noted that the “made with real fruit juice” claim had been removed, meaning it did not need to make a further ruling on that wording. It was careful to point out that this did not amount to a finding that the original claim complied with the advertising code.
On the fruit imagery, the directorate accepted that the products were clearly presented as gummy sweets, with the pictures indicating flavour rather than promising a particular quantity of fruit. The revised ingredient declarations and a “pictures are for reference only” disclaimer also helped address the complaint.
The changes were accepted as a voluntary undertaking under Clause 8.5 of the Procedural Guide.
