Sanitarium's fruit claims fall short

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Food manufacturer Sanitarium has been told to lift its game after short-changing customers with fruit cereals containing barely any fruit.

Its Weet-Bix Apricot Bites was found to have only 6.5 per cent of the fruit, even though the cereal packet was emblazoned with images of apricots and other descriptive words.

This despite the fact it was meant to include 15 per cent apricots, according to the ingredients listed on the box.

The consumer watchdog looked at four of Sanitarium's cereal products and found them all to be wanting, with its Wild Berry Bites containing just 6.8 per cent of berries.

The company's Granola Clusters were also stretching the truth, with only 2.4 per cent of fruit compared with the 6 per cent it was meant to have.

Sanitarium's Light 'n' Tasty Triple Berry cereal had a fruit content of just 3 per cent instead of 8.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found Sanitarium was using other substances, such as sugar, gelling agents and wheat fibre, to fill up its purported percentage of fruit.

Sanitarium, acknowledging a potential breach of the Trade Practices Act, has promised to start listing fruit contents properly and will conduct a full audit of all its products.

It has also embarked on a compliance programme to minimise the risk that such shortfalls could recur.

- AAP