Squeezed

Behind the label: orange juice

The following article by Pat Thomas originally appeared on July 13 in the Ecologist:

Most orange juice manufacturers would have you believe that OJ is purity in a glass; a simple, natural, single-ingredient product.

But behind this image of purity is a product that is heavily processed and engineered. If it's made from concentrate, the juice goes through a process where all the water is removed - and with it much of the flavour. In the case of 'not from concentrate' juice, the liquid is pasteurised and 'deaerated' so it doesn't oxidise. It's then put in huge storage tanks where it can be kept for upwards of a year.

This process also strips the natural flavours form the juice. When the juice is ready for packaging, companies add chemical 'flavour packs' consisting of orange oils and flavourings to make it taste fresh again. The flavours they add are designed to meet local taste expectations; thus OJ in California might taste completely different from that in Spain or the UK.

The end product may taste fine, but to call it 'natural' is probably stretching credibility.

Orange juice as a mass-produced product grew out of attempts to supply vitamin C to soldiers stuck on the front line in WWII. From a health perspective OJ does contain useful amounts of antioxidants - but these rapidly deteriorate once the product is opened. Most types of orange juice, whether they are made from concentrate or not and whether they are chilled or not, are similar in terms of vitamin C and antioxidant content.

But of course this really misses the point. For those with no access to other better sources of vitamin C such as fresh fruits and vegetables, orange juice may well be an important source of such nutrients. But the fact remains that for someone on a good diet, processed orange juice is a nutritionally unnecessary and inferior way to get the fullest spectrum of vitamins and antioxidants.

Even so, the UK market for fruit juices and health drinks (i.e. smoothies, vitamin enhanced waters etc) was worth an estimated £2.92bn in 2007, and fruit juices accounted for around half of that. In the UK OJ is still our best seller.

Now in addition to its health properties, consumers are being invited to ponder the carbon implications of the world's favourite fruit juice. In January of this year PepsiCo in the US announced that its best-selling orange juice brand, Tropicana (also the UK's biggest selling fruit juice), had gained accreditation from the UK's Carbon Trust. This entitled the product to carry the Carbon Label, which tells consumers what the carbon footprint of a product is on its package (although the label has yet to appear on Tropicana products anywhere).

That not-from-concentrate orange juice? It's not so good for your budget

The following article by John Ewoldt originally appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

The orange juice industry is picking an extra dollar from your grocery budget, and you probably feel good about it. But you shouldn't.

If you've recently switched to orange juice labeled "not from concentrate" (NFC), you've been picked like low-hanging fruit.

In Alissa Hamilton's book Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice from Yale University Press, she says that people looking for fresher, less processed foods won't find it in a carton of Minute Maid Premium, Tropicana or Simply Orange.

"It's a misconception that it's freshly squeezed from the groves of Florida," she said.

Rather, it's often a heavily processed product. In the pasteurization process, it's heated, stripped of oxygen and flavor chemicals, then put in huge storage vats for up to a year. When it's ready for packaging, flavor derived from orange essence and oils is added to make it taste fresh. Each company has its own special flavor pack, but to call it natural at this point is a real stretch, she said.

The phrase "not from concentrate" came about when Tropicana (an NFC juice) suddenly had to compete with similar looking cartons that were reconstituted from concentrate. The phrase was introduced to try to make consumers pay more for a product that is more expensive to manufacture but not fresher, said Hamilton. Orange "flavor" isn't listed on the label ingredients because that disclosure isn't required.

We decided to try a blind, unscientific taste test to see if people could pick out freshly squeezed from "not from concentrate." I chose Lunds/Byerly's freshly squeezed, unpasteurized juice and placed it unmarked alongside NFC store brands from Aldi, Cub, Rainbow and Trader Joe's. I chose the store brands because they're about 20 percent cheaper than name brands from Coca-Cola (Simply Orange and Minute Maid) and Pepsi (Tropicana). One easy way to know that "not from concentrate" isn't fresh from the groves is cartons with a freshness date 45 to 60 days away. Lunds' freshly squeezed juice should be used within a week of purchase, said a Lunds produce manager.

Six of the eight testers rated Lunds' OJ the winner. Fresh doesn't come cheap, though. At $7 for 48 ounces, it's about 14 cents an ounce. Cub's NFC came in second, and Trader Joe's and Aldi tied for third. If you're trying to save money, Aldi's Nature's Nectar in the clear jug is the cheapest at about 4.5 cents per ounce, followed by Trader Joe's.

But if you start your day with a glass of OJ, you'll probably get as much freshness from frozen concentrate, or concentrate in a carton, as the more expensive "not from concentrate."

Say it ain't so, Bing Crosby.