Fungicide Found in Orange Juice

by Daniel J. DeNoon

A banned fungicide has turned up in some orange juice sold in the U.S.

The warning comes in a letter the FDA this week sent to the Juice Products Association, an industry group. A juice company that “requested confidentiality” tipped off the FDA after its own tests discovered the fungus-killing chemical.

The chemical is carbendazim, which is used in some countries to kill fungus on fruits and vegetables. It’s not used in the U.S. Any food containing more than trace amounts of the chemical is banned from entering the U.S. Tests for carbendazim are sensitive down to amounts of 10 parts per billion (ppb), so anything testing 10 ppb or more is refused entry or destroyed.

But oranges from Brazil apparently got into the U.S. food supply. The FDA tells WebMD that most of the orange juice it has tested does not have any detectable carbendazim. But some samples had 10 to 35 ppb.

While the U.S. has not set a tolerance level for carbendazim, the European Union allows a maximum level of 200 ppb in oranges. Based on that, the FDA feels the carbendazim level so far seen in orange juice “do not raise safety concerns.”

But if higher levels are found, the FDA tells the fruit juice industry, the FDA “will alert the public and take the ncessary action to ensure that the product is removed from the market.”

The Environmental Protection Agency tells WebMD it’s finished its risk analysis of carbendazim and orange juice. A report is expected next week.

In an email, EPA spokesman Dale Kemery says the 35 ppb level that FDA detected in orange juice “is 1,000 to 3,000 times lower that the levels that would indicate a health concern. Based on monitoring data provided to EPA by FDA, EPA has no reason to expect that residues of carbenzadin in oranges grown in Brazil would ever approach levels that would raise safety concerns.”

In animal studies, carbendazim can cause birth defects. How the chemical affects humans is not yet entirely clear.

Brazilian oranges are not the only produce tainted with carbendazim. The FDA has a long list of specific products, ranging from Chinese herbs to Serbian berries, denied U.S. entry unless certified not to contain the chemical.