Juices Under Attack: For Good Reason or Not?

Recent news has not been kind to fruit juices.  The sweet ones have already been accused of being unhealthy because of the high sugar content.  Magazine articles have been urging parents to encourage their kids to get their fruit juice from a fresh piece of fruit rather than a can, bottle, or carton.  And, for the kid who’s addicted to juices, magazine articles suggest diluting 50% with water.  Hah! I respond to the latter. Kids aren’t that dumb.  My grandson has taken to requesting his apple juice WITHOUT  WATER . (These last two words are always uttered quite loudly.) 

But, sugar aside, lately some juices have been further attacked, apple juice for containing arsenic and orange juice for being disgustingly over-processed. Yet, for some adults, morning doesn’t begin until orange juice goes down the hatch.  And for many kids, apple juice is their favorite and main beverage. Should you ban these ever-popular juices from your fridge? Let’s find out.

Apple Juice

You’ve probably heard about Dr. Mehmet Oz’s claim—made on his TV show and website--that many brands of store-bought apple juice contain arsenic.  Is this true?  Yes.  Is the arsenic harmful?  Believe it or not, the FDA says no. 

The website droz.com says the following:  “American apple juice is made from apple concentrate,  60% of which is imported from China.  Other countries may use pesticides that contain arsenic, a heavy metal known to cause cancer. After testing dozens of samples from three different cities in America, Dr. Oz discovered that some of the nation’s best known brands of apple juice contain arsenic.”  His website then presents the research results, Juice Company’s response, information for consumers about how to buy “the safest juice for your family.”  He is also requesting the FDA to set a limit for total arsenic in apple juice at 10 parts per billion.

The FDA’s response to this appeared in an article with the snappy title of “Getting to the Core of the Issue: Apple Juice and Arsenic.”  The FDA does such a clear job of explaining this, that I’ll let the agency speak for itself:

 “Why is there arsenic in fruit juice products?

Arsenic is present in the environment as a naturally occurring substance and as a result of contamination from human activity, such as from the use of certain pesticides and fertilizers. It is found in water, air, food and soil.

There are two types of arsenic: organic and inorganic. The inorganic forms of arsenic are the harmful forms, while the organic forms of arsenic are essentially harmless. Because both forms of arsenic have been found in soil and ground water, small amounts may be found in certain food and beverage products, including fruit juices and juice concentrates.

What is the FDA doing to protect the public against arsenic in fruit juice products?

The FDA has been testing for arsenic contamination in juice products for several years as part of FDA programs that look for harmful substances in food. We have been aggressively testing samples of both domestic and imported fruit juices and juice concentrates, and have not found evidence that juice is unsafe for consumers, young or old. 

I have heard reports of test results showing high levels of arsenic in apple juice products. Are they true?

Unless we can determine that the test methods used were for inorganic arsenic and that the method was accurate and properly performed, we are not able to specifically address the test results. It is important to remember that test results for total arsenic do not distinguish between the essentially harmless organic forms of arsenic and the harmful inorganic forms of arsenic. It would be inappropriate to draw conclusions about the safety of a product based on the total arsenic level. 

When the FDA wants to determine if a food has unsafe levels of arsenic, we test the food specifically for the harmful, inorganic forms of arsenic. It is common to test for total arsenic as a quick and easy way of seeing how e bulk of total arsenic in some foods. If you want to know if there are harmful amounts of arsenic in the sample, you must test specifically for inorganic arsenic.

Does the FDA have a response to the information recently reported on the Dr. Oz Show?

The FDA is aware of the episode of the Dr. Oz Show that aired on Sept. 12, 2011, where test results for arsenic in apple juice were discussed. The FDA has reviewed the test results performed by EMSL Analytical, Inc., on behalf of the Dr. Oz Show, and we can confirm that the results that were revealed are for total arsenic. The results do not distinguish between the essentially harmless organic forms of arsenic and the harmful inorganic forms of arsenic. Therefore, these results cannot be used to determine whether there is an unsafe amount of arsenic in the juice tested by the Dr. Oz Show.

It is inappropriate to draw conclusions about the safety of a food based on the total arsenic level since in most instances organic arsenic, which again is essentially harmless and not absorbed by the body, makes up the bulk of the total arsenic in foods like juice.” 

To read more Q/As from the above article, click here: http://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/apple_juice_and_arsenic.html

 Orange Juice

Imagine this: someone has written an entire book about orange juice. Squeezed: What YouDon’t Know about Orange Juice by Alissa Hamilton was published in 2010.  Since then, online articles have appeared that also expose the life span of your “fresh” glass of orange juice from birth to human consumption.  The narrative horrifies people who consider the word “processed” the worst insult one can hurl at a food.  The rest of us may not be quite so horrified; still, this information will probably be surprising if not shocking to most consumers. 

Here are the juicy details:  oranges are a seasonal product.  (No great surprise there.)  So if you want to have fresh (not frozen, concentrate in a can) orange juice all year round, you must accept its odd (but, in our opinion, not sordid) past.  Here goes:  After the juice is squeezed from oranges, it’s stored in gigantic holding tanks and then—this is important—the oxygen is removed.  The advantage of this procedure: the remaining part of the juice will last for about a year.  The disadvantage: removing the oxygen has destroyed its taste because it has also been deprived of the chemicals that created the orange juice flavor.  To deal with this quite major defect, the industry has developed flavor packs that put the taste back in.  Flavor packs for each brand are a little different, giving each brand a distinctive and uniform flavor.  That’s why every glass of Tropicana orange juice tastes the same.  Flavor packs aren’t listed in the ingredients label because they are made from orange by-products. Note: none of this says that the juice is likely to be contaminated.  This isn’t a safety issue. 

Well, that’s the story. Your “fresh” orange juice in a carton is a highly processed product perhaps also well past its infancy.  Are you horrified, or are you impressed by this ingenious method of supplying consumers with a seasonal product every month of the year?  Please write your comments below.  My opinion? I’m not horrified, but I never drink the stuff.  I’d rather eat an orange.

Source(s):

droz.come “Arsenic in Apple Juice”
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/arsenic-apple-juice

foodsasfety.gov “Getting to the Core of the Issue: Apple Juice and Arsenic”
http://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/apple_juice_and_arsenic.html

notes.com “Orange Juice: How Products are Made”
http://www.enotes.com/how-products-encyclopedia/orange-juice

Mercola.com “The Shocking Truth About Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice”
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/16/dirty-little-secret-orange-juice-is-artificially-flavored-to-taste-like-oranges.aspx?e_cid=20110816_DNL_art_1

foodrenegade.com “The Secret Ingredient in Your Orange Juice”
http://www.foodrenegade.com/secret-ingredient-your-orange-juice/