Ribena is a blackcurrant-based drink that has been
manufactured in the UK since 1933. The name comes from the botanical name of
the blackcurrant: Ribes nigrum. Blackcurrants are on a very short list of fruits
indigenous to the British Isles and high in vitamin C. During World War II, when imported
citrus fruits became non-existent, home cultivation of blackcurrants was
encouraged by the government so Ribena could take up the slack. For a long
time, adverts claimed “the blackcurrants in Ribena have four times the vitamin
C of oranges.” Two students in New Zealand decided to test this. In a secondary-school
lab, they were unable to find ANY vitamin C in ready-to-drink Ribena bottles. GlaxoSmithKline,
the manufacturers of Ribena, were forced to admit their recipe has changed; instead
of a “nutritional drink,” Ribena is now a soft drink. The GlaxoSmithKline was
fined NZ$217,500. Hopefully, cases like these will inspire other companies to
stand behind their promises.
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