Some U.S. Orange Juice Tests Positive for Fungicide, FDA Says
February 08, 2012, 3:11 PM ESTBy Stephanie Armour
Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Samples of U.S. orange juice tested positive for a banned fungicide although levels were so low they’re not a public health concern, the Food and Drug Administration said.
Nine of 14 samples of domestic orange juice the agency tested contained the compound carbendazim in concentrations of less than 80 parts per billion, a safety benchmark set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The agency is holding and testing imported orange juice after low levels of carbendazim was detected in juice from Brazil. The compound, widely used in agriculture, is banned in U.S. oranges.
The agency said it will conduct follow-up testing although it “does not believe there is a need to continue” screening for the fungicide in orange juice already in the U.S., according to the release.
The FDA tested domestic juice because it often contains imported product. The agency tested samples from major orange juice manufacturers with operations in Florida. The positive results ranged from 13 parts per billion to 36 parts per billion, according to an FDA statement.
Twenty of 86 samples of imported juice tested positive for the fungicide at concentrations of 10 parts per billion or more, the FDA said today. All of those shipments have been detained or refused. The positive samples came from juice from Canada and Brazil.
An additional 20 samples are still being tested and the agency is releasing test results weekly.
Imported juice that tests at concentrations of 10 parts per billion are being detained or destroyed.
Americans consumed 1.2 million gallons from the 2009-2010 growing season, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. The U.S. is the biggest single importer of orange juice and took in 190,000 metric tons last year, according to the USDA.
--With assistance from Anna Edney in Washington and Duane Stanford in Atlanta. Editors: Adriel Bettelheim, Andrew Pollack
To contact the reporters on this story: Stephanie Armour in Washington at sarmour@bloomberg.net and Duane Stanford in Atlanta at dstanford@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Adriel Bettelheim at abettelheim@bloomberg.net
