By: Anthony Flood Date: 1/18/2012
Yes. Orange juice continues to be a safe and nutritious beverage for you and your family. Recent reports about low levels of a fungicide (carbendazim) detected in orange juice received some attention and prompted questions about fruit juice safety. The bottom line is that orange juice is absolutely safe to drink.
News about carbenzadim surfaced about a week ago when it was reported that low levels were detected in orange juice that was imported from Brazil. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in announcing an expanded testing of imports, immediately made it clear that the levels detected were a fraction of concentrations that would trigger any health concern.
Carbendazim is a fungicide that is used in a number of crops in the U.S. and abroad, although it is not used here for citrus. Dr. Carl Winter of the University of California at Davis confirmed that “Carbendazim is not registered for use in the U.S. on oranges, but is allowed for use on at least 35 varieties of fruits, vegetables and grains. In addition, it continues to be safely used to control fungus and mold on oranges in Europe, Canada, Brazil and Japan.”
Why is carbendazim registered in the U.S. for some crops and not oranges? Current mold problems on oranges in the U.S. and the availability of other fungicides do not justify the additional expenses of getting carbendazim registered for use on oranges.
Those who wanted to exaggerate the significance of small amounts of carbendazim also tried to raise issues about the safety of all imported food. As has been discussed previously, FDA provides oversight and guidance on all food, beverages and ingredients – domestic or imported, to ensure their safety. The Food Safety Modernization Act expanded FDA’s authority at the border and during production in foreign countries.
Regarding carbendazim, FDA has a website which will show the results of any monitoring tests. It is important to note that FDA has already announced it will not accept any product with levels higher than 10ppb, which is well below levels that would trigger any health concerns.
To recap, based on the low levels detected so far, there’s no need to be concerned and no need to change what you eat or drink.