IMPORTANT! Members of US and Brazil: Do not drink orange juice

Makaze · Mar 12, 2012

"Don't drink orange juice. I repeat: do not drink orange juice for the next few months. It's most likely to be from Brazil, and will have fungicidal carbendazium in it, over the legal limit." ~ Friend who posted it

* FDA denies Brazil request for 18-month grace period

* Brazil to ship only non-concentrate until fungicide eliminated

* Brazil expects to resume concentrated shipments by end of year (Recasts, updates with US juice industry reaction, details from FDA letter)

By Anna Yukhananov and Peter Murphy

WASHINGTON/BRASILIA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. health regulator on Thursday declined a request by orange juice producers to allow a higher tolerance of a banned fungicide in juice imports, a decision that will force Brazil to stop exporting concentrated orange juice to the United States.

Brazil, the world's top orange juice producer, will still be able to ship its U.S. customers orange juice that is not from concentrate, since that variety contains much smaller levels of carbendazim.

Brazil asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to give it until June 2013 to eradicate carbendazim from its juice after the regulator began checking all imports in January for the chemical which it banned in 2009.

Carbendazim is illegal on citrus in the United States, but commonly used in Brazil, the world's top orange juice exporter, to combat mold on orange trees. It is permitted up to a limit in imports to the European Union, the main buyer of Brazil's juice.

The checks began after Coca Cola alerted the FDA when it discovered the chemical in laboratory tests.

Orange juice futures have been on a rollercoaster ride since the FDA began testing orange juice imports amid uncertainty over whether the United States would cut off supplies from Brazil, which provides about a tenth of U.S. orange juice.

The futures, traded at New York's ICE exchange, hit an all-time high on Jan. 23 of $2.244 a lb but the benchmark March contract had retreated to $1.8505 per lb by Thursday.

Brazil's juice industry has continued exports to the United States since, but only in diluted not-from-concentrate form which meets FDA requirements for carbendazim content below 10 parts per billion (ppb), a virtually undetectable quantity.

"By the end of the year it is probable that things will be back to normal and we will be shipping concentrated juice to (the U.S.) again," an orange juice industry source told Reuters, declining to be named as he was not authorized to speak on the industry's behalf.

Brazil had requested the FDA distinguish between frozen concentrate and not-from-concentrate, meaning a 60 ppb carbendazim tolerance for the former since not-from-concentrate is diluted to about six times the volume of concentrate.

The FDA refused, saying its policy is to apply the 10 ppb limit on juice regardless of its concentration.

U.S. JUICE INDUSTRY TO BUY ELSEWHERE

The Juice Products Association of U.S.-based juice producers said in a statement it was "disappointed" by the FDA decision, since the Environmental Protection Agency declared carbendazim levels of up to 80 ppb posed no threat to human health.

It said it would have to seek supplies of juice from other producing countries.

"The United States cannot grow enough oranges to satisfy American consumer demand for orange juice and therefore juice processors must rely on orange juice concentrate from other countries to assure adequate supplies," it said.

The association had backed Brazil's call for imports of concentrate to be tested in the diluted form in which it is consumed.

In a 1,600 word statement, the FDA said it could not accept the requests Brazil's juice industry presented to it in writing on Jan. 19, citing laws that it said prohibited it from making exceptions that would accommodate it.

"We recognize that the use in Brazil of a pesticide not authorized in the U.S. and FDA's detention of shipments bearing illegal residues has affected the orange juice market and has economic impacts," the response read.

"However these impacts do not warrant a change in FDA's enforcement ...," it concluded, adding that making an exception would create an unfair advantage over other food producers who have incurred costs to ensure their products meet FDA standards.

The FDA statement can be viewed at: here

About two-thirds of Brazil's juice shipments to the United States are already in not-from-concentrate, ready-to-drink form.

The Brazilian industry source said exporters would have to review supply contracts for concentrated juice with U.S.-based importers to switch to a not-from-concentrate product which is more expensive and bulkier to ship.

The European Union, where more than two thirds of Brazil's orange juice is shipped, applies a carbendazim tolerance of 200 ppb. (Additional reporting by Chuck Abbott; Editing by David Gregorio)
Click to expand...

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/16/fda-oranges-idUSL2E8DGD4I20120216

Krowley · Mar 12, 2012

I really hope that means I'm in Canada.
I remember there was some epidemic involving tomatoes and I'm still afraid to eat them...

Krown · Mar 12, 2012

So glad I live in Canada. I love my orange juice.

Hayabusa · Mar 12, 2012

Heard about this on the news a while back actually. Well, that sucks, but at least I'm not a frequent drinker of the orange fluid.

The Twin · Mar 15, 2012

Good thing the only kind of orange juice I drink is a powdered Crystal Light kind of stuff. I don't mind the real stuff but I can't stand the pulp for the life of me.

MadDoctorMaddie · Mar 15, 2012

Eh, I rarely drink orange juice anyway...
Is this just about juices that come from Brazilian oranges? If I knew that the oranges are from Florida or something, would that be safe?

Shikou · Mar 15, 2012

I rarely drink Orange Juice but I am most like to drink it in the morning at school with my Breakfast sandwich (sausage biscuit) when ever they have them. But which ones are effected? Until I know for sure good bye Sunny D, I'll miss eating you like ice cream in the summer :(

Ars Nova · Mar 17, 2012

...H-how... How am I expected to deal with this. I live in FLORIDA. A DAY WITHOUT ORANGE JUICE IS A DAY I WAS NOT ALIVE. ;_; Good gaud, y'all.

So is it ok if it's not from concentrate? Will concentrate O.J. be imported from somewhere else for a while? Kind of confused by the article's organization tbh.

(╯°□°）╯︵ ıɥsoɯ · Mar 17, 2012

Oh dear me. I surely hope this goes away quickly. I love having some orange juice. I'm quite a juice addict. But thanks for this. I'll be sure to tell my family such a thing. It's a good thing we don't but OJ often.

Such horrid things people allow theses days. I do not like it one bit.

flowergothic · Mar 17, 2012

I don't really drink orange juice that much, but thanks for the notice.
I'll avoid orange juice for the next few months. :)

Llave · Mar 17, 2012

Orange juice futures have been on a rollercoaster ride since the FDA began testing orange juice imports amid uncertainty over whether the United States would cut off supplies from Brazil, which provides about a tenth of U.S. orange juice.
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A tenth of the US orange juice is hardly anything. It doesn't mean every fluid ounce of orange juice is contaminated.

Sforzato said: ↑

...H-how... How am I expected to deal with this. I live in FLORIDA. A DAY WITHOUT ORANGE JUICE IS A DAY I WAS NOT ALIVE. ;_; Good gaud, y'all.

So is it ok if it's not from concentrate? Will concentrate O.J. be imported from somewhere else for a while? Kind of confused by the article's organization tbh.
Click to expand...

Speaking of the Orange State, you guys grow your own oranges. I don't see the problem there if carbendazium is illegal in the US.

Ars Nova · Mar 17, 2012

Feyris Nyan Nyan said: ↑

Speaking of the Orange State, you guys grow your own oranges. I don't see the problem there if carbendazium is illegal in the US.
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True, I guess it doesn't apply to us. Kind of why I was confused. The article's kind of scattered @_@

miaulement · Mar 17, 2012

... B-But I like my orange juice D:! What kind of monsters would do this sort of thing?!

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IMPORTANT! Members of US and Brazil: Do not drink orange juice

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