Ocean Spray is well known as a juice brand in the United States, but has only made its forage into the Chinese market over the last decade or so.
Cranberries are not a common local fruit in the East Asian market, and it is only in recent years that the growth of functionally beneficial foods has pushed these into the limelight.
“Cranberries have become increasingly popular due to their high anthocyanin content, and because this content is very different from anthocyanins in any other fruit,” Ocean Spray Head of Global Beverage Product Development Wei Wang Nolan told the floor at the recent Food and Beverage Innovation Forum (FBIF) 2026 in Hangzhou, China.
“The anthocyanins in cranberries contain the flavonoids A-type proanthocyanidins (A-PACs) which are completely unique to cranberries and have strong anti-pathogenic properties. This is different from B-type proanthocyanidins (B-PACs) which are commonly found in most fruits, and are also antioxidative and carry health benefits but are less potent.”
A-PACs have conferred several scientifically-verified advantages for cranberry consumption, according to Ocean Spray data. These include 2.3x the content of proanthocyanidins, 2x the content of polyphenols and 1.5x antioxidative activity compared to blueberries, and even higher numbers when compared to other fruits such as limes or blackberries.
“These benefits were found by just the simple consumption of a 240ml serving of 27% cranberry juice, and many countries have already verified these health claims ranging from the United States to India to Australia and New Zealand,” she added.
“In China, we specifically conducted two local studies pertaining to Helicobacter pylori infections, a bacteria causing peptic ulcers which has a particularly high infection rate in China especially in some counties like Linqu, Shandong which has over 50% infection rate. The study showed that cranberry juice consumption reduced H.pylori infection rates by some 20%.”
Tasting local
Given cranberry juice’s relative accessibility to the average Chinese consumer by way of both taste and affordability, Ocean Spray is hoping this gives the category a strong position for its next wave of growth.
“It is also important to meet the needs of local consumers in order to ensure acceptability is high, and in this area we found that it is important to focus on two areas namely taste and colour,” Wang Nolan said.
“The taste of unprocessed cranberries is quite bitter and astringent so processing is definitely needed, and this is where our market surveys found some major differences in terms of the Chinese palate compared to other regions — mature markets like Australia are very keen on a cranberry-forward taste to their juice, but Chinese consumers want something less intense and slightly fruitier.”
The focus here is not simply on the juice being sweeter though – the delicate balance of astringence, bitterness and sweetness are what make up the overall ‘cranberry’ taste which needs to be achieved.
“This is what drove us to launch the Ocean Spray Light 50 Cranberry Juice in this market, which is less cranberry-forward, less sour and less astringent by balancing out with additional fruit juices like apple and pineapple,” she said.
Looking good
One other important attribute of the Ocean Spray Light 50 is its colouration, which is a brighter red than pure cranberry juices.
“The colour of cranberry juice will naturally change along with changes to pH and concentration, and as we all know Chinese consumers are very keen on bright, colourful foods and beverages that can feature well on their Douyin,” she said.
“This is why we made sure that the colour of Light 50 was as bright red as possible without affecting taste, and similarly no matter what product innovations we put into the market this colouration has always been a priority.”
Ocean Spray cranberry juice has been used in an endless number of beverage innovations from Cran-Raspberry Lemonade to an Absolut Vodka-Cranberry Juice collaboration pack.
