One more reason to eat an orange and not drink it....

monicalosesweight

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/california-woman-sues-pepsicos-tropicana-alleging-deceptive-advertising/story?id=15394357

This was an interesting news article. I've always thought Orange juice tasted odd and wrong. It's been a pet peeve of mine for years. Now I know why I dislike Orange juice.

I'm curious, how many others here have given up Orange juice now that you're eating healthier?

Monica

healthygreek

I used to drink OJ every so often but I much prefer eating the entire fruit (except the peel of course).
I also love clementines, tangerines, grapefruit and limes. I love to marinate chicken, lamb, pork and fish in lime juice and the pulp! The taste is so good to me.

monicalosesweight

I agree. I use real oranges now. I've always wondered why orange juice tasted bitter to me and now I know.

micheleb15

I didn't read the whole article, but really, she's suing the company. Unless it caused someone close to her damage, this is ridiculous. Whole wheat doesn't always mean whole wheat, but it still can sell with whole wheat on the package. Unless you make it yourself or buy organic, it's usually processed.

Oh, and I love orange juice, especially with champagne or vodka.

GamerLady

I've never been a big fan of oranges or orange juice.

cmriverside

Will someone post the Cliff Notes? What's the reason?

violinkeri

If i want OJ i just juice a couple oranges...just because there is no added sugar and no preservatives.

monicalosesweight

"The lawsuit cites the packaging of the Pure Premium brand, "an illustration of an orange with a straw stuck into it, which is meant to convey the message that [not-from-concentrate] juice is fresh from the orange. This reinforces the '100 percent Pure and Natural Orange Juice' claim in large prominent type." "

"It is not natural orange juice," according to the complaint. "It is instead a product that is scientifically engineered in laboratories, not nature, which explains its shelf-life of more than two months."

Basically, they use what they call 'Flavor Packs" to re-add taste because the pasteurization process kills the actual flavor of the orange juice. The flavor packets are some chemically created concoction made from some sort of oil that they get from the oranges when they squeeze them. The flavor is created through a chemical process. That's why real freshly squeezed tastes totally different. It's like a perfume scent, in South America, they use different flavor packets. What the person is complaining about is the fact that it's being labeled and marketed as if they take it off the tree and squeeze it right into the container which is totally untrue.

My taste buds are really good so I can definitely tell a difference between real squeezed orange juice and the stuff they pasteurize. By the way, organic does not mean that the orange juice is not heated and that they don't add flavor packets - just may mean they use fewer chemicals around the grove. The one part I found horrifying was that they keep the orange juice in "million-gallon tanks for up to a year". Pasteurization kills all flavors in the orange juice so if they don't re-add something, it pretty much tastes like nothing.

What is upsetting to the person whose suing is that they are making people believe that they literally are just squeezing the oranges into their boxes and you never realize the level of the processing involved. The fact that you could be drinking orange juice that's a year old to me is nasty. Frankly, I'd like to just have Tropicana sell the oranges directly to us at a better deal and let us squeeze our own. It's just one more level of manufacturing that's unneeded.

Lawsuits are filed for many reasons - not just for damages. They are also filed to make sure that people don't make crazy claims like "all natural" to make people think that you're eating something fresh from the grove. Basically, people should have a right to know where their food is coming from and that's what's being argued here. It's a matter of the FDA requiring the packets be added as part of the ingredients label and stopping silly loopholes. I blame the FDA for this as they really need to sit down and define what can be marked as natural and not allowing for correct labels. That's why these lawsuits occur. Granted, I think the current laws won't allow real fresh squeezed orange juice so we're all better off squeezing our own oranges (or if you're in Florida - planting your own tree).

Monica

micheleb15

She wants money. That's what most lawsuits are for. I am 90% sure that this has nothing to do with health.

CharlieOverby

I have a juicer and make my own fruit juice and vegetable juice

jenniferrr127

Juice my own. I found out about this, like many other processed things, LONG ago and gave it up. Now it's a rare thing for me.

If you only knew half the things that are done to the "foods" we eat....

Calliope610

Does she also think milk goes directly from the udder to the milk jug?

mazdauk

Anyone who thinks an orange juice with a long shelf life is "natural" is not very bright..... or has just not thought it through. We can get a lovely fresh juice here - and you can taste the difference (and it has a very short shelf life).

As another poster said, organic refers to growing conditions, not to processing. Organic beef is not presented on the hoof!

I'm picky about my OJ, and its definetly better with vodka:drinker:

cmriverside

Thanks, OP, for posting that Cliff Notes version.

I'm from Florida (but no longer live there.) It's big business. And they have to pasteurize to prevent eColi and other bacterial infections, obviously.

I stopped buying juice when I started losing weight - it's just too calorie dense for the non-satiety factor. So I eat oranges (WITOUT DA PEEL.)

Some things, like tequila, are good with orange juice. But I figure if I'm drinking tequila, my concerns about additives are pretty much no longer valid.

I see her point, and the FDA is not the best agency to trust, so at least she's drawn attention to it. Doubt anything will change.

leodru

I have a friend who spends alot of time in Florida and he was claiming the same thing to me in Feb of last year (i was vacationing there). I came home and checked the label but didnt understand because there was nothing in the ingredients - i thought it was an urban legend. How can you add "flavouring" but its not an ingredient? Big business certainly manage to get around the rules. Thanks for the article- it explains alot. On another note i think people are commenting without even reading the article - just saying!

Umeboshi

But, with orange juice you don't have to worry about weighing it before or after peeling it.

sPaRkLiNgLYFE

ok so tropicana lied, i'll just switch brands

runningathena

I'll stick to eating clementines.... Cutie lovers unite!

(Oh and we have a tree in our backyard and we're in California. So it'll grow in many places! Grow your own fruit!)

monicalosesweight

Switching brands doesn't work. Unfortunately, they have to use flavor packets. The pasteurization process kills all flavor and none of the pasteurized versions out there are truly unprocessed. The reality is that orange juice is NOT just picked off the tree and put in a jug.

As for milk, to be honest, I don't drink milk that much anymore. I've always thought it tasted icky. I'm not anti-dairy - still like cheese and yogurt - but I had real milk in South America that was unprocessed and not pasteurized on a farm and once you've tried the real stuff - the pasteurized stuff is just horrid tasting. Heck, I wish our laws were like the Europeans - if yes, I'd be drinking raw milk. I despise the nasty strange flavor or regular milk. It tastes burnt to me.

RobinV_Seattle

Oh, and I love orange juice, especially with champagne or vodka.

This, lol! Really, that's the only time I just have the juice. I'd rather have the orange!