Who can we trust to tell us the truth?

Article from Telegraph.Innocent Smoothies accused over environmental marketing
Britain's leading manufacturer of "smoothie" drinks, and one of the companies at the vanguard of the green revolution, has been accused of making misleading claims about its environmental credentials.


Sam Chase, of campaign group Rising Tide, accused Innocent of using bogus ethical claims . Innocent Smoothies tells consumers on its website that "fruit always travels by boat or rail" because these methods use less fossil fuel than air or road transport per kilo of fruit. Customers are also told the drinks are produced in the UK.

However, the Daily Telegraph can reveal that the drinks are blended on the continent before being driven in dozens of tanker lorries hundreds of miles across Europe for bottling in the UK.

All that the company's website says about where the drinks are made is that they are produced "in the countryside".

Sam Chase, of the environmental campaign group Rising Tide, accused Innocent of greenwash – using bogus ethical claims to enhance a company's reputation.

"People will be happy to pay more for a product if they feel it is environmentally friendly," he said. "These drinks are supposed to be fresh but they're not. You pay a premium for feeling good about yourself.

"We are drowning in a sea of corporate greenwash. Even companies which are supposed to have the highest ethical standards are at it now and the major problem is that it encourages consumers to believe they do not have to make the changes that are necessary to combat global warming."

Despite spending millions on projecting an image of a cottage industry with strong ethical values, the UK smoothie market is as aggressive as any other retail sector.

Innocent, founded by Cambridge graduates Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright, has a 71 per cent share of the £169 million UK smoothie market and the company sells two million smoothies per week. Last year it appeared 40th in a list of the 100 fastest-growing British companies.

Mr Reed, one of the company's co-founders, denied there had been a deliberate attempt to mislead customers but accepted that since moving production overseas, Innocent had not publicised where its drinks were made.

"We are attempting to get the best quality drinks to our customers while generating the least amount of carbon," he said. While it might sound strange, Rotterdam is the port which all the fruit comes into, so it makes sense to blend our drinks there.

"It had been our policy not to talk about where are drinks are made for commercial reasons but we now seek to tell our customers everything about the drinks and be completely open with them.

"There is some material on our website which has not been updated and incorrectly states that we only use rail and sea to transport our fruit. That is a mistake on our part and will be rectified immediately."