UPDATE July 15: In POM Sues Minute Maid for Exploiting Health Benefits of Pomegranate, The Huffington Post asks “How trustworthy are the products you find on supermarket shelves?”

Recent federal court documents confirm what many of us have known all along: Minute Maid’s Enhanced Pomegranate Blueberry Juice shamefully misleads consumers into believing the product they are drinking contains meaningful quantities of healthy pomegranate and blueberry juices.

In reality, the court documents confirmed that the product contains less than one third of one percent of either juice—packaged in a container cleverly labeled to trick consumers into believing they are drinking pomegranate juice.

If not pomegranate juice, what are these unsuspecting consumers drinking? Turns out that Minute Maid’s Enhanced Pomegranate Blueberry Juice is actually made almost exclusively from apple and grape juices — two inexpensive filler juices commonly used in place of more expensive, 100% pure pomegranate juice.

Oh, did we mention that it also contains just 0.3% pomegranate juice and 0.2% blueberry juice?

That can’t be right, can it?

Apparently it is, in Minute Maid’s view of the consumer world.

Minute Maid hides behind FDA labeling technicalities by pointing out their product’s front label says “Flavored Blend of 5 Juices.” Of course, this appears in small print that is dwarfed by the product name, “Pomegranate Blueberry,” immediately above. And, in even smaller print, the back label acknowledges that apple and grape juices are the primary ingredients.

While some may respond to this deception with a casual “buyer beware,” the reality is that consumers seeking the benefits of pomegranate antioxidants are being cheated every time they drink the Minute Maid product — because this juice simply cannot deliver on the health benefits of 100% pomegranate juice.

Let’s face it, health benefits are the primary reason people drink pomegranate juice, and if consumers are drinking the juice for that purpose they are being seriously and dangerously misled by Minute Maid.

So, here’s the real deal: In order to get the equivalent amount of pomegranate juice in a 16oz bottle of POM 100% pomegranate juice, a consumer would have to buy 90 bottles of 59oz Minute Maid. This would cost $333 at Minute Maid’s average price of $3.69 per bottle, not to mention the fact that those 90 bottles amount to 80,000 total calories!

We’re not whining here; POM welcomes fair competition. But if certain competitors are allowed to cheat – by misrepresenting the very nature of their products – it makes it difficult for honest players to succeed. And it’s not just us saying that Minute Maid is a sham; look at what other experts are saying about their “pomegranate” products.

When our POM Wonderful labels say “pomegranate,” we really mean it. It’s our first ingredient. And, in the case of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice, it’s our only ingredient.

POM is the only juice company that voluntarily discloses the percentages of all our juice ingredients. We have healthy, honest 100% juice formulations, so there is nothing to hide.

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NOTE: Learn more by reading The True Story Behind Pomegranate Juice: Why POM is the Real Deal and Why Minute Maid is a Deceptive Sham – also available in PDF format.