"Any fruit or 100% fruit juice counts as part of the fruit group. Fruits may be fresh, canned, frozen, or dried, and may be whole, cut-up, or pureed."
- USDA's MyPlate Food Guidance System
Update on Orange Juice Safety from JPA - 1/30/2012
Based upon the risk assessment of carbendazim by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly stated that orange juice being sold in the United States is safe. The EPA risk assessment has determined that carbendazim levels up to 80 parts per billion (ppb), a microscopic amount, pose no threat to human health.
FDA continues to test imported orange juice concentrate at U.S. borders for traces of carbendazim. FDA has acknowledged levels up to 80 ppb are safe and will take no seizure or recall action on any product already in the US found beneath those levels. However, FDA will not allow any imported orange juice concentrate to enter the U.S. if trace levels of carbendazim exceed 10 ppb. The agency is using this lower maximum level, 8 times less than both EPA and FDA agree is safe, because the letter of the law requires the agency to do so.
The juice industry endorses and applauds FDA’s oversight of imported orange juice concentrate. Juice processors maintain, however, that no one drinks orange juice concentrate and therefore the levels of carbendazim in orange juice should be evaluated on an “as consumed” basis, which is a more logical and practical way to assure safety for the consumer. FDA does have enforcement discretion to consider the fact that consumers don’t drink orange juice concentrate. The Juice Products Association has called upon FDA to use this enforcement discretion to calculate any levels of carbendazim found in imported orange juice tested on an “as consumed basis” – not on a concentrated basis − which would raise the allowable limit for carbendazim in imported orange juice concentrate to almost 60 ppb, much higher than levels measured in any samples to date.
