Coke boosts healthy image in UK with Minute Maid launch

The firm, which is making much of the nutritional benefits of its new juice range, says the '100 per cent Pure Squeezed Juices' have been created especially for British consumers.

They include two orange juices, also offered in variants with added multivitamins, and Smooth Orange Juice and Raspberry with added zinc, good for the immune system.

The products can be counted as one of the five daily portions of fruit and vegetables recommended for a healthy lifestyle by the government's Five-a-Day campaign, says the company.

This will appeal to the increasingly health-conscious British consumer, who views fruit juice as a healthier alternative to coffee and fizzy drinks.

Fruit juice sales are currently soaring in the UK, and over the past two years alone, sales of chilled, high quality and natural juice have increased by a staggering 60 per cent to some £768 million (€1.1bn), according to Mintel.

In 2004, fruit juice accounted for almost two thirds of the overall market for fruit juice and juice drinks (those containing less than 100 per cent fruit juice with added ingredients), currently worth £2.32 billion.

Coca-Cola said it will announce 'further innovation in the near future', which could include a sterol-enriched formulation. The firm has recently gained clearance for a juice with added plant sterols under the novel foods directive.

Norman Brodie, marketing director at Coca-Cola Enterprises, said: "We plan to unlock the potential of the rapidly growing juice and juice drinks sector."​

It will however go head-to-head with its main rival PepsiCo, whose Tropicana brand has gained the leading market share of fortified juices.