Images are popular online purporting to prove that most people who drink packaged juice are using the straw incorrectly. We have verified the correctness of this statement.
If you believe the viral pictures, corrugated juice straws, contrary to generally accepted practice, need to be inserted into the bag with the short end and drunk from the other end. Apparently this is the only way to empty the bag. Illustrations of the same type on this topic with captions like “My life was a lie” are common on social networks (for example, Facebook, X, "VKontakte") and on entertainment sites ("Chief editor", "Peekaboo", Joy Reactor).
Strictly speaking, the question comes down to how to properly use flexible plastic straws when drinking drinks in any container, including ordinary glasses. After all, technically there is no fundamental difference between them and juice packs: in all cases the task is the same - drink all the liquid completely, to the bottom.
First, let's look at examples of packaging. A significant part of the tubes that come with juice packages have one pointed end (due to a beveled cut) on the long side, so that it is convenient to open the protective film on the packaging.
Opening the juice with one end of the straw, and then removing it from the package, turning it over and inserting it with the other is illogical. Moreover, in many cases, the end of the straw manages to sink into the juice, and when removing the straw, there is a risk of splashing yourself and surrounding objects. In addition, manufacturers traditionally attach the straws to the packaging with the long end down, as if suggesting how they should be used. Finally, there is no guarantee that the flexible end of the straw inside the bag will be parallel to the bottom and not pulled up, making it completely impossible to drink the juice.
Fact checkers from the Spanish project Maldita asked Zumos Palma and Tetra Pak, which produce packaging for fruit juices, for clarification. Representatives of both confirmed that it is correct to use straws exactly as is customary in modern society. “The accordion top is designed in such a way that the inclination of the straw can be adjusted according to the taste of the consumer and makes it easier to access the drink,” explained Tetra Pak. And indeed, if the straight end of the straw coming out of the package (already quite short) cannot be bent, then you will have to either tilt your head behind it or tilt the vessel, which, for example, in the case of a glass, can have unpleasant consequences (and is simply unaesthetic).
Let's turn to the invention that Tetra Pak talked about. Originally straws based on patent 1888 by American Marvin Stone, were paper and unbendable. In the 1930s, his compatriot Joseph Friedman noticed that the little daughter could not normally reach the edge of the straw in the glass standing on the counter. Then he inserted a screw into the tube and used dental floss to encircle it along the contour of the thread. The result was a homemade corrugation that allowed the edge of the straw to be bent down. On September 28, 1937 Friedman received patent for your invention. Having never received worthy offers for its sale, he opened the Flexible Straw company for the production of flexible straws, in parallel having improved model. The entrepreneur's first clients were hospitals that cared about the convenience of patients, but soon interest in the device became widespread and the company's business took off.
As can be seen from illustrations to the patent, the flexible part of the straw is on the outside - it clearly acts as a guide towards the drinker’s head.
Speaks for itself and sketch models made by Friedman himself.
Thus, all the facts indicate that the vast majority of people, contrary to popular pictures on the Internet, correctly use a flexible juice straw when inserting its long and straight end into the package. The opposite statement, apparently, is nothing more than someone’s joke that has become viral first in the West, and then in Runet.
Cover photo: social networks
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