What is and isn’t a whole fruit cranberry powder

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Now that FDA issued a qualified health claim for cranberry powder, it’s essential that suppliers, manufacturers, and ultimately consumers, understand the difference between cranberry whole fruit, cranberry seeds, and cranberry juice powder, says Fruit d’Or.

“Fruit d’Or has worked for years relentlessly to identify, define, and study the various components of whole fruit cranberry powder,” said Fruit d’Or lead consultant Stephen Lukawski, in a press release. “What we’ve discovered is that each component plays an essential role. When you remove anything from the cranberry, such as its juice, skin, seeds, or active components such as insoluble and soluble PACs, it is no longer a whole fruit—it’s an extract.” 

There are several factors that differentiate whole-fruit cranberry powder from other cranberry-based products. For example, as Lukawski mentions, the separation of cranberry seeds from the fruit prior to drying and milling into powder prevents the final product from being a whole fruit cranberry powder, however, so does spraying juice concentrate onto cranberry powder made from skin and seeds. Additionally, when the cranberry is pressed to obtain its juice and is then dried, what’s left is natural sugar, soluble organic acids, and some short-chain PACs, not whole fruit cranberry powder. 

Solvent extraction using chromatography concentrates only a small portion of the cranberry’s molecules, leaving behind the majority of the insoluble material such as cranberry fibers, which contribute to the effect against E. coli, the main bacteria causing UTI. However, it is not a whole fruit cranberry powder because whole-fruit cranberry powder contains both soluble and insoluble PACs. When one is trying to determine if an ingredient is indeed whole-fruit cranberry powder, the first step is to confirm it contains both soluble and insoluble PACs. 

According to Lukawski, whole fruit cranberry powder can be DNA fingerprinted. “All Fruit d’Or cranberry ingredients undergo TRU-ID Purity-IQ sequential barcoding for authenticity which is necessary to help fight against adulteration.” 

Factors such as milling temperature and humidity control (cranberries like dry conditions) are critical to protecting the integrity of whole fruit cranberry powder. Due diligence is required to ensure the integrity and authenticity of your whole fruit cranberry ingredient.