- Ribena
Ribena is a brand of fruit based uncarbonated
soft drink and fruit drink concentrate produced byGlaxoSmithKline . The original and most common variety contains realblackcurrant juice.History
Ribena was originally manufactured by the
Bristol -based food and drink company HW Carter as a blackcurrant cordial. Development research into pure fruit syrups for the manufacture ofmilkshake s had been done at the Long Ashton Agriculture and Horticulture Research Station in northSomerset using apectinase enzyme process; essentially Ribena was invented there by Dr Vernon Charley. The blackcurrant variety was found to contain high levels ofVitamin C . The drink was launched in 1936 and the name Ribena (from the botanical name for the blackcurrant, "Ribes nigrum") was created by Mr Sidney Lennox in 1938. During the Second World War other fruits rich in vitamin C, likeoranges (fromFlorida ), became almost impossible to obtain in the United Kingdom, due to theU boat campaign. Blackcurrant cultivation was encouraged by the Government and the yield of the nation's crop increased significantly. From 1942 almost the entire British blackcurrant crop was made into blackcurrant syrup (or cordial), almost all of it manufactured by Carters, and distributed to the nation's children for free without the Ribena brand name, giving rise to the lasting popularity of blackcurrant flavourings in Britain. Production moved to the new Royal Forest Factory [ [http://www.sungreen.co.uk/Coleford/xCartersRear.htm Old Photos of Coleford and district - H W Carter ] ] atColeford in theForest of Dean in the autumn of 1947, where production takes place today. Carters were bought out by theBeecham company (later to become SmithKline Beecham and later GlaxoSmithKline) in 1955.There have been various incarnations of carbonated "Sparkling Ribena", sold in cans - throughout the 1980s and early 1990s there was a can-based version simply named 'Ribena', in about 1993 'Ribena Spring' was launched, a gently carbonated version in ready to drink bottle form, which was discontinued and replaced with 'Ribena Spark', another can-based carbonated edition, in the late 1990s, a product which is still being produced today.
Ribena today
Ribena is now sold as a cordial and also pre-diluted and marketed in a large variety of flavours including Strawberry, Blackcurrant & Cranberry, Orange and Apple. It has recently launched a blueberry flavour. The original Blackcurrant flavour comes in Original and Really Light (low calorie) varieties.
Ribena can be mixed with the alcoholic, anise flavoured drink, Pernod. Water & ice are then added to produce the cocktail named the 'King of Denmark'. It is also a key ingredient in the "snakebite and black" version of the lager/cider mixture called snakebite (although this is usually made with much cheaper blackcurrant cordials).
It is claimed in
advertisement s for Ribena (as well as on their cartons and bottles, and on their web-site) that 95% of all UK and Irish farmed blackcurrants are used in their drinks. This has now been changed to "nearly all of British blackcurrants are used in Ribena". Some of the juice for Ribena is pressed bySomerset -based cider brewer Thatcher's.In May 2006, Ribena Blueberry was introduced to the UK market.
January 2007 saw a design change of the standard Ribena cartons.
In June 2007, a new
raspberry flavoured Ribena was released.Controversy
In recent years the brand has been criticised, due to the high sugar content of its products which is comparable to other soft drinks such as
cola . A study conducted by theAustralian Consumers' Association forChoice magazine in January 2007 revealed that blackcurrant juice only constituted 5% of the product with the rest being a processed concentrate. [cite web|url=http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=105576&catId=100289&tid=100008&p=1&title=Foods+that+make+kids+fatter+faster|title=Foods that make kids fatter faster|publisher=Choice magazine |date=January 2007]The Food Commission in the United Kingdom has also criticised the sugar levels in regular Ribena as have several newspapers and publications. [cite web | url=http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=3421 | publisher=The Ecologist magazine | title=Ribena, Glaxo and me | date=1 November 2003 ] [cite web | url=http://www.foodcomm.org.uk/liquid_candy_jan04.htm | publisher=The Food Commission | title=Soft drinks or liquid candy? | date=29 January 2004 ]
Misleading and false claims
In 2001, a formulation of the diluted Ribena cordial sold as Ribena Toothkind (and endorsed by the
British Dental Association ) was judged by the United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority to have been advertised in a misleading manner, and that claims that the drink did not encourage tooth decay should be removed from the packaging. The opinion was upheld by a hearing in the High Court. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1121749.stm BBC News | HEALTH | Court rules against Ribena ] ]In 2004, two high school students (Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo) from
Pakuranga College inAuckland ,New Zealand , conducted a science experiment to determine the Vitamin C levels of their favourite fruit drinks. As Ribena advertising refers to "four times the vitamin C of oranges" they were surprised to discover the levels of Vitamin C were much lower at 22 mg/100ml in the syrup compared with another product 'Just Juice' at 72mg/100ml. After contacting the manufacturers of Ribena, their concerns of "intentionally misleading and quite inappropriate" claims were dismissed and they were told the claim related only to the blackcurrant fruit, not the product.Their case was taken up by a television consumer affairs show
Fair Go which broadcast the story nationwide onTV ONE in October 2004. Following further testing, in March 2007 the New Zealand Commerce Commission brought 15 charges in the Auckland District Court against GlaxoSmithKline under the Fair Trading Act. In addition to the misleading representations that the Ribena range "contained four times the vitamin C of oranges" in its advertising and packaging, [cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10430610|publisher=New Zealand Herald |title=Schoolgirls study nabs food giant|date=March 2007] cartoned ready to drink Ribena falsely claimed on the label to have 7mg of vitamin C per 100ml or 44 per cent of the recommended daily intake when it had no detectable vitamin C content.In
Australia where the same products were on sale,GlaxoSmithKline issued a statement one week before the New Zealand court case confirming labelling discrepancies on its Ready to Drink range to theAustralian Competition and Consumer Commission and undertook to remove all references to vitamin C from its labels.On 27 March 2007GlaxoSmithKline pleaded guilty to all 15 charges and was fined NZ$217,500 by Auckland District Court for misleading consumers and ordered to run a series of corrective advertisements and place a statement on its website. [cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/ribena-maker-fined-192000/2007/03/27/1174761427980.html|publisher=The Age |title=Ribena maker fined $192,000|date=March 2007] . Since the court case GlaxoSmithKline has issued a statement on its official ribena website;GlaxoSmithKline claims of prompt action and being unaware of the issue appear to be in conflict with the claim of the two high school students to have contacted Ribena manufacturers with their concerns in 2004, and a television broadcast of the story nationwide on
TV ONE in October 2004. They do not disclose why a product from one of the world's largest food and pharmaceutical companies was falsely labelled when Vitamin C content can be accurately tested by fourteen year olds with school laboratory equipment.GlaxoSmithKline maintains that the issue only affects Australia and New Zealand and that Ribena sold in other markets such as the United Kingdom contain the levels of vitamin C stated on the product label. [cite web | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2043450,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1 | publisher=The Guardian | title=Schoolgirls rumble Ribena vitamin claims | date=27 March 2007 ]
Popular culture
Hot Ribena is a favourite drink of English artist Estelle; this is mentioned by
Kanye West in her trackAmerican Boy .The mid-1990s vampire TV show "
Forever Knight " used undiluted Ribena as prop blood, as it seemed to be of similar consistency.References
ee also
* Tango - similarly bought by Beecham in 1950s but sold in 1986.
External links
* [http://www.ribena.co.uk Official site]
* [http://www.gsk.com/infocus/purple.htm How they make Ribena]
* [http://www.ribena.co.nz/ ribena.co.nz] New Zealand official website, containing a media statement about the Vitamin C court case
* [http://www.trustbite.co.nz/index.php?s=ribena Ribena Misleader? A REPUTATION in tatters ]
* [http://www.jeffooi.com/2007/03/ribena_its_lack_vitamin_c_for.php Ribena & lack of vitamin C... 'C' for CREDIBILITY? ]
* [http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/Ribena_Original_Blackcurrant__5314738 Reviews at Ciao!]
* [http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/drinks/ribena/reviews Reviews at DooYoo]News items
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/829233.stm Ribena in court]
* [http://www.stuff.co.nz/4000723a12855.html Article about misleading Vitamin C content of Ribena]
* [http://paknet.pakuranga.school.nz/pages.asp?MenuID=1&DeptID=51&PageID=5428 The Ribena story on Pakuranga College Paknet]
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