Brazilian Orange Juice Media Coverage

The news wires and cable networks have blown up with coverage over FDA’s action regarding tests for a fungicide in juice from Brazil. The fungicide is not approved for use on citrus in the U.S.

Some of the news coverage I've seen gives the impression that all OJ is impacted and doesn’t do enough, in my opinion, to state that this juice is safe for consumption despite the detection of the fungicide.

It can be argued that FDA is following due diligence in testing for the material that is not approved in the U.S. However, do you think the mainstream media is doing its part in reassuring the public OJ is safe or sensationalizing the story?

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Permalink Reply by Paul Rusnak on January 12, 2012 at 5:12pm

A dose of scare tactics along with a helping of hype: based on what I've seen of local news coverage on this story here, Frank.

They feed you the headline, but then neglect to give important details. Most consumers would like to know if this might apply to the juice they have in their fridge. Many might miss the quick reference about the fungicide not being approved for use on citrus in the U.S.

It would be helpful to know that oh, by the way, juice from Florida is just fine. Of course, what do you expect when the newscast allots just 20-seconds for something like this? After all, the segment about Walgreen's serving sushi deserves more air time, right? Unreal.

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Permalink Reply by Jack Ellis on January 14, 2012 at 5:51am

The media is careful to a fault not to offend any minority group (except Christians, of course), yet they think nothing of negatively impacting major segments of American agriculture with careless and incomplete stories like this.

The Fox News report did, however, emphasize that this fungicide was not used in the US and only imported concentrate was effected.

Steps could be taken to alleviate these kinds of problems - better inspection by USDA of imported commodities and produce - and amending the label laws to require a clearer statement of origin. It took me several minutes to find "Product of Brazil" on the half gallon of WalMart OJ in our fridge - tiny, almost invisible, print below the nutrition label. It should be more prominently displayed on the front of the container. And NO, I'm not discarding the Brazil OJ! :-)

***********************

Our irrigation lake has finally re-filled after the worst summer in Texas history. We lost most everything last year and are praying for a wetter 2012. We have been shut-down since June - no water! As a charity non-profit grower, we depend on volunteer labor and all my best help has drifted away to other things. Hope I can get them back!

We did drill a small irrigation well this winter and installed a drip tape system on a couple of acres, but we really need our big lake pump and sprinklers for full production.

Jack

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Permalink Reply by Jack Ellis on January 14, 2012 at 7:37am

CORRECTION:

I took another look at that Wal-Mart OJ label. It doesn't say just "product of Brazil" as I said above - the exact words are "product of Brazil, Costa Rica and/or the United States."