Updated: October 2026
In short: A juice label is not marketing but a legal requirement. The EU Food Information Regulation (FIC, Regulation 1169/2011) sets out what must be on every packaged food bottle, from the name to the ingredients to the nutrition table. At frank., refrigeration is added: our juices are made shelf-stable by HPP, without heat, and therefore have to go in the fridge.
What must be on every juice label?
For a juice, that's these nine items:
- Name of the food: what is in the bottle, not just the name of the flavour.
- List of ingredients, in descending order by weight.
- Allergens, highlighted in the ingredients list, usually in bold. Celery is one of the 14 EU allergens and is in many green juices.
- Quantity of an ingredient in percent, if it is highlighted in the name or by an image (e.g. "with ginger").
- Net quantity in millilitres.
- Date: "use by" or "best before".
- Storage instructions, if shelf life depends on them, as with our juices.
- Name and address of the responsible food business operator.
- Nutrition table per 100 ml: energy, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and salt.
In Germany, the mandatory details must be in German.
When may something be called "juice"?
The word is protected. The EU Fruit Juice Directive (2001/112/EC), implemented in Germany by the Fruit Juice and Soft Drinks Ordinance, sets out when a product may be called fruit juice. Since October 2013, fruit juice may no longer contain added sugar. If water and often also sugar are added, the product is called nectar.
Cold-pressed on the other hand, is not a legally defined term. It only describes how the pressing is done. How safe and durable a juice is is decided by the step after that: raw, pasteurised or treated by HPP. How our HPP process works, we explain separately. You'll find the difference from other juices under cold-pressed, smoothie or freshly squeezed.
"Use by" or "best before"?
- "Use by" is on easily perishable foods. After this date they should no longer be eaten.
- "Best before" (BBD) means: until this date, the product keeps its quality. After that, it isn't automatically bad.
Always read the date together with the storage instructions. For HPP juice, the cold chain is part of it.
One bottle, three countries: what's different in Austria and Switzerland
frank. is available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. For you, the bottle looks the same, but the label doesn't:
- Deposit in Germany: Single-use plastic drinks bottles, including for juice, are subject to a deposit and must be labelled as such.
- Deposit in Austria: Since 2025 there is a single-use deposit there too. A German deposit bottle can therefore not simply be sold in Austria.
- Switzerland: It is not in the EU and has its own rules, the Food Information Ordinance (LIV). Among other things, the country of production must be stated.
So from one flavour, several labels quickly result. If an ingredient, a supplier or even just a word changes, the change must go on every version before a bottle goes to print.
That's why we don't manage our labels in emails and old PDFs but in CoLabel, a label management system. There, every label is organised by product and market, the text is linked to the design, and we can see who changed what and which version went to print.
For marketing, we work with Komanda Studio, a marketing agency for regulated industries.
Frequently asked questions
Does the label have to be in German?
In Germany yes: the mandatory details must be in German. Other languages are allowed.
Does "cold-pressed" mean the juice is untreated?
Not necessarily. The term only describes the pressing. After that, the juice can be raw, pasteurised or treated by HPP.
Why is celery in bold on the label?
Celery is one of the 14 allergens that must be highlighted in the ingredients list under EU law.
