Coke fungicide prompts tests of Minute Maid and Simply Orange juices

Coke fungicide: Coca-Cola Co. alerted the FDA to a fungicide in its Minute Maid and Simply Orange brands of orange juice as well as a competitor's brand.

|
Paulo Whitaker/Reuters
Coke fungicide found in OJ: A worker pours harvested oranges into a sack on a farm in Limeira, Thursday. The fungicide carbendazim has been found in orange juice made by Coca-Cola Co.

Coca-Cola Co. acknowledged Thursday it was the company that alerted federal regulators about low levels of fungicide in its own orange juice and in competitors' juice, prompting juice prices to rise and increased government testing for the residue.

The Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency have said orange juice is safe to drink and the levels found are below levels of concern.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, which makes the Minute Maid and Simply Orange brands of orange juice, said Thursday it had notified FDA of the low levels of the fungicide carbendazim in the company's orange juice and in competitors' juice. The FDA had said Monday that an unnamed company had told the agency about thefungicide and confirmed Wednesday the company was Coca-Cola.

Neither the FDA nor the company said which orange juice products tested positive. Carbendazim is not currently approved for use on citrus in the United States, but it is used to combat mold on orange trees in Brazil, which exports orange juice to the United States. Fungicides are used to control fungi or fungal spores in agriculture.

The FDA said Coca-Cola 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 U.S. government has not established an official maximum residue level for carbendazim in orange juice.

The Environmental Protection Agency has said a risk assessment of carbendazim showed no risks at up to 80 parts per billion, but officials believe real levels of concern are much higher.

"The residues we have seen reported at 35 parts per billion are thousands of times below the concentration that would raise safety concerns," said EPA spokeswoman Betsaida Alcantara.

Coca-Cola spokesman Dan Schafer said: "This is an industry issue that affects every company that produces products in the U.S. using orange juice from Brazil."

Most orange juice products made by Coke and other companies contain a blend of juice from different sources including Brazil. In addition to Coca-Cola, Pepsico Inc.'s Tropicana brand is one of the largest U.S. orange juice producers. A spokesman for Tropicana declined to say whether the company had done its own testing for the fungicide.

The FDA has begun testing shipments of orange juice at the border and will detain any that contain more than 10 parts per billion of the chemical. Because the fungicide is not approved for use in the United States, any amount found in food is illegal, but FDA spokeswoman Siobhan Delancey said any amount below 10 parts per billion isn't measurable. All tests released by the agency so far have been negative, she said.

The agency said it won't remove any juice currently on store shelves because it doesn't believe the levels of residue are harmful, though that juice is also being tested.

In the letter to the Juice Products Association earlier this week, FDA official Nega Beru asked the industry to ensure that suppliers in Brazil, the world's largest orange producer, and other countries stop using thefungicide.

"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.

Orange juice for March delivery fell 10 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $1.781 per pound on Wednesday. Coca-Cola Co. shares fell 49 cents to close at $67.57 and Pepsico Inc. shares fell 39 cents to close at $64.62.

The fungicide discovery comes after the FDA 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 often consumed by children.

Patty Lovera of the advocacy group Food and Water Watch said the FDA and the Agriculture Department, which also oversees food imports, should have a better system for tracking potential contaminants in food.

"It seems like we keep playing catch up chemical by chemical," she said. "As we import more and more, this isn't going to be the last time this happens."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Coke fungicide prompts tests of Minute Maid and Simply Orange juices
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2012/0113/Coke-fungicide-prompts-tests-of-Minute-Maid-and-Simply-Orange-juices
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe