In the past few months there has been more flurry over commercially prepared orange juice on the tails of Dr Oz raising the arsenic flag for apple juice.
In this article by Alyssa Hamilton from 2009 she makes the case against OJ in the box.
Now we have the FDA ringing in on this issue over their 'concern' for fungicide in OJ coming from Mexico, Central and South America. (We warned you years ago about the problems with CAFTA.)
Little seems to change.
Just better to juice your own, my dears.
Selections from Natural Health News
In this article by Alyssa Hamilton from 2009 she makes the case against OJ in the box.
It’s orange juice season. More precisely, it’s the season of the Florida Valencia, considered the “Cadillac of oranges” within the orange juice industry for its deep orange color, high juice content and rich orange flavor.
We’re so used to getting orange juice 365 days of the year that it may come as news that even Tropicana Pure Premium has a season. But it does.From March until June the Valencia is in its prime in Florida, and even Californians will admit that Florida grows a superior Valencia. The state produces a few other varieties for juicing. The Hamlin, which peaks in late fall, is the most heavily planted. But anyone who has anything to do with the manufacture of commercial orange juice knows that nothing compares to Florida Valencia juice.
The leading orange juice companies such as Tropicana (owned by PepsiCo), Minute Maid and Simply Orange (owned by Coca-Cola), and Florida’s Natural tell us many stories about orange juice: it’s natural, it’s pure and simple, it’s squeezed from oranges grown on pristine looking trees in Florida. But they leave out the details about how most commercial orange juice is produced and processed. SOURCE
Now we have the FDA ringing in on this issue over their 'concern' for fungicide in OJ coming from Mexico, Central and South America. (We warned you years ago about the problems with CAFTA.)
FDA steps up testing for fungicide in orange juice
By Mary Clare Jalonick
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration says it will step up testing for a fungicide that has been found in low levels in orange juice.If you go in the archives at www.leaflady.org, you'll note that we reported on fungicides in agriculture along with food wax and related topics well over a decade ago.
FDA officials said they aren't concerned about the safety of the juice but will increase testing to make sure the contamination isn't a problem. In a letter to the juice industry Monday, the agency said that an unnamed juice company contacted FDA in late December and said it had detected low levels of the fungicide carbendazim in the company's own orange juice and also in its competitors' juice. Fungicides are used to control fungi or fungal spores in agriculture.
Carbendazim is not currently approved for use on citrus in the United States, but is used in Brazil, which exports orange juice to the United States. An FDA spokeswoman said the company's testing found levels up to 35 parts per billion of the fungicide, far below the European Union's maximum residue level of 200 parts per billion. The United States has not established a maximum residue level for carbendazim in oranges.
In the letter to the Juice Products Association, FDA official Nega Beru said the agency will begin testing shipments of orange juice at the border and will detain any that contain traces of the chemical. Because it is not approved for use in the United States, any amount found in food is illegal.
Beru said that because the FDA doesn't believe the levels of residue are harmful, the agency won't remove any juice currently on store shelves. But he asked the industry to ensure that suppliers in Brazil and elsewhere stop using the fungicide.
"If the agency identifies orange juice with carbendazim at levels that present a public health risk, it will alert the public and take the necessary action to ensure that the product is removed from the market," he said.
The discovery comes after the agency said it would also step up testing for arsenic in apple juice. FDA officials said last year that the agency is considering tightening restrictions for the levels of arsenic allowed in the juice after consumer groups pushed the agency to crack down on the contaminant.
Studies show that apple juice has generally low levels of arsenic, and the government says it is safe to drink. But consumer advocates say the FDA is allowing too much of the chemical, which is sometimes natural, sometimes man made, into apple juices favored by thirsty kids.
Patty Lovera of the consumer group Food and Water Watch said the federal government needs to rely on its own testing, not that of the companies.
"The federal government needs to set consistent, meaningful, enforceable standards for all toxins," she said.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/washington/20120109_ap_fdastepsuptestingforfungicideinorangejuice.html?c=r#ixzz1j4wTMrqo
Little seems to change.
Just better to juice your own, my dears.
Selections from Natural Health News
Dec 04, 2010
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