Ingredients of soft drinks
The basic ingredients of a soft drink (excluding fruit juices
and bottled water) are water, a sweetener, an acid and a flavour.
Optional extra ingredients often include fruit and / or fruit
juice, carbon dioxide, preservative and colour. Water is always the
major ingredient and represents approximately 86% of a carbonated
drink, 90% of a fruit juice and 100% of bottled waters.
Soft drink ingredients can be divided into two categories:
1. Food substances such as fruit, fruit juice, sugars
and starches, which can be used without limit and do not have an E
number.
2. Additives, for example a sweetener or a preservative.
Additives are defined under the Food Labelling Regulations 1996
as:
'any substance not commonly regarded or used as food, which
is added to food…to affect its keeping qualities, texture,
consistency, appearance, taste, odour, alkalinity or acidity or to
serve any other technological function'
Click on the links in the menu for further information on the
additives and ingredients commonly used in soft drinks.