Coke Fungicide Discovery Led to OJ Scare

Coca-Cola revealed today that it told the Food and Drug Administration that some of its orange juice had been made with produce sprayed with a fungicide in Brazil that wasn’t registered for use here in the U.S.

“As a responsible company, we always strive to do the right thing and comply with all laws and regulations, so when we discovered that some Brazilian growers had sprayed their trees with a fungicide that was not registered for use in the U.S., we quickly notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of our findings,” Coca-Cola said in a prepared statement.

“We expect any responsible company would have done the same. This is an industry issue that affects every company that produces products in the U.S. using orange juice from Brazil. As the FDA said in a letter to the Juice Products Association, at the low levels that were reported, there are no safety concerns with orange juice in the U.S. made with Brazilian juice.”

On Monday, a letter from the FDA said the fungicide carbendazim had been discovered in orange juice products but didn’t name the companies which made the drinks. Coca-Cola’s orange juice brands include Minute Maid and Simply Orange.

“On December 28, 2011, FDA learned from a juice company that it had detected low levels of carbendazim (in the low parts per billion range) in its and competitors’ currently marketed finished products, and in certain orange juice concentrate that is not on the market,” read a letter to the Juice Products Association from the FDA.

The fungicide carbendazim has been approved in several other countries and can help fight off various types of mold.

The FDA had previously stated that the carbendazim was discovered in orange juice products from a Brazilian crop produced last year.

Despite the ban on orange juice imports, the FDA said it has no plans to pull juice containing low levels of carbendazim.

Related articles

• Coke Finds Fungicide in O.J.: Report (thestreet.com)
• Coca-Cola says it told gov’t about fungicide in OJ (newsok.com)
• Coca-Cola says it alerted FDA about fungicide (sfgate.com)