Fear of Illegal Fungicide May be Squeezing Orange Juice Sales

Submitted by Anonymous on March 6, 2012 - 9:34am

Orange juice sales are down 15.5 percent and Florida citrus officials believe the cause is consumers fear of foreign imports tainted with carbendazim, a fungicide illegal in the United States due to potential hormone-disrupting effects.

Florida citrus officials told the Lakeland Ledger Monday that buyers are concerned about the fungicide making its way into U.S. orange juice products from Brazilian imports.

The first hint of a carbendazim-related backlash against OJ came in the sales report released Feb. 6 by the Florida Department of Citrus, the Ledger reported.

That showed OJ sales for the four-week period ending Jan. 21 had declined 11.6 percent, while the average retail price rose 6.6 percent from a year ago.