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Orange Juice Safe — At Least Some of It
by Daniel J. DeNoon
OJ is OK, the FDA now says. Or at least some of it is.
The agency has retested three of 31 samples of imported orange juice that earlier tests suggested might be contaminated with a fungus-killing chemical — carbendazim — banned in the U.S. Those tests came up negative, so the FDA is releasing that orange juice for U.S. sale.
Tests of the other 28 samples should be finished in two or three weeks, the FDA says. And the agency now is testing all imported orange juice for carbendazim. Results will be released on Fridays
Initial screening tests for carbendazim take four or five business days. Tests to confirm a positive screening result take another seven business days.
Lab tests can detect carbendazim at levels of 10 parts per billion (ppb) or higher. The FDA says the EPA has assured it that carbendazim levels below 80 ppm are safe. Even so, any orange juice with carbendazim levels above 10 ppb will be refused U.S. entry.
But based on the low level of risk seen so far, the FDA is not taking any action on orange juice, or orange juice concentrate, that already has entered the U.S.
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