Smooth or Juicy Bits? You Decide (Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice)

Member Name: Zmugzy

Product:	Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice
Date:	21/11/07 (1633 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Convenient to drink and store

Disadvantages: not organic

I have been drinking Tropicana orange juice for a number of years along with other orange juice brands. Like most consumers I simply enjoy drinking a healthy glass of fruit juice and often don't concern myself with the wider implications when purchasing such a product. But in a globalised world we have to start thinking more about how our food is produced and where it come from.


~~ Producers ~~
Tropicana is the world's leading producer of orange juice and is owned by the US drinks company PepsiCo. Originally it was only produced in Florida but now more orange juice is sourced from the cultivated orange groves of Brazil. Florida and Brazil now grow between them nearly half the world's oranges, 95% of these are juiced.


~~ Varieties ~~
According to the manufacturers at least 12 oranges go into every litre of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice. In the UK the juice usually comes in two varieties: Original and Smooth. These are sold in similar packaging but can be easily identified on supermarket shelves by their different coloured caps: blue for Smooth and orange for Original. Personally I prefer Tropicana Original that includes all the juicy bits and therefore contains some of the texture of real oranges. The Smooth variety is carefully filtered for those who prefer 'a silky smoothness to their juice'. Thankfully I don't have to describe the 13 varieties available in the USA: Original, Homestyle, Calcium + Vitamin D, Grovestand, Grovestand Calcium, Light N Healthy Calcium, Light N Healthy with Pulp, Fiber, Low Acid, Healthy Heart, Healthy Kids, and Immunity Defense.


~~ Drinking and Storage ~~
Tropicana orange juice must always be stored in your refrigerator. The Original especially should be given a shake before you pour it out because the juicy bits tend to sink to the bottom. Once opened it is recommended that you drink it within 5 days although I usually find that it lasts a little longer. Although it can be drunk at any time of the day, I always think it's best to drink some first thing in the morning. I don't think it's a good idea to drink orange juice late at night before you go to bed as it can cause indigestion.


~~ The Social and Environmental Costs of Orange Juice Production ~~
It should be noted that Tropicana orange juice like many other brands are part of a highly industrialised farming and manufacturing process. Orange plantations use 6,000-9,000 cubic metres of water per hectare per year. Some estimates suggest that for every glass of orange juice drunk, 22 glasses of processing water and 1,000 glasses of irrigation water are required. Taking into account the energy-intensive juicing process, one glass of crude oil is said to be required to produce 10 glasses of juice. This does not include any added costs of the energy and water required for pasteurisation, concentration, freezing, shipping, and re-hydration at the destination country. There are also concerns regarding the use of child labour on orange farms in Brazil and Mexico as well as the illegal use of migrant workers in Florida. A Florida newspaper in 2003 reported that illegal workers were paid only 3.5 cents per half-gallon of fresh juice that typically retailed for $3.39.


~~ A Little Bit of Politics ~~
PepsiCo, owners of Tropicana, have donated more than $2m to the Republicans and the Bush administration since 2000. This is more than 80% of all PepsiCo's political donations.


~~ Health Benefits ~~
According to the manufacturers Tropicana orange juice is healthy and good for you. I do not wholly disagree with this statement. It obviously has health benefits and will contribute to a healthy diet. One 150ml glass of Tropicana Pure Premium is supposed to equal one of your 5 daily portions of fruit and vegetables - the currently fashionable description of what it means to eat healthily according to so-called 'health and medical experts'. A 250ml glass of juice contains a full day's supply of Vitamin C and is a good source of Folic Acid. It contains no cholesterol, sodium or fat and is supposed to promote healthy blood pressure

For some time I had thought that Tropicana orange juice was pure fresh unadulterated orange juice but this is not the case. Although it is true that there is no water added and it does not come from a concentrate, the juice once squeezed does undergo a form of mild pasteurisation whereby the juice is heated for a short while. This gives it a longer shelf life and it also remains drinkable longer once opened. The only thing that concerns me here is that this must destroy some of the vitamin C. So the question remains as to how much is depleted and whether or not more vitamin C is added after pasteurisation. Either way freshly squeezed and unpasteurised orange juice must be a healthier choice.


~~ Health Concerns ~~
One issue that concerns me is that this juice is not organic. One therefore has to consider the possibility of pesticide residues. From a UK government pesticide monitoring residue report in 2004 I found the following: "residue occurrence in orange juice is lower than in fresh oranges... ...as oranges produced specifically for juicing are unlikely to meet the same aesthetic standards as those produced for direct sale to the consumer. Thus, oranges would be expected to receive fewer pesticide treatments. Also, the pesticide may not transfer to the juice during processing."

However, according to the WWF, orange production requires more intensive use of pesticides than any other major crops. It is true that most pesticide residues are limited to the orange's peel (one sure reason to buy organic marmalade), but most orange juice production involves extracting oils from the peel for inclusion in the juice. Leftovers such as pith, pips and peel, are usually turned into cattle feed which means that the residues can still enter the human food chain.

It is ridiculous that we still allow pesticides to be used on our food purely for aesthetic reasons.


~~ Conclusion ~~
I'm not going to say you shouldn't buy Tropicana Orange juice. It is a convenient product to buy and despite some concerns probably still has considerable health benefits. But it's important to note that this is not freshly squeezed orange juice and there are issues with its production that should not be ignored. One should also remember that there are alternatives. It is possible to buy Freshly squeezed orange juice at Asda and Tesco that I assume is produced from orange groves in Europe. You can now buy Fairtrade orange juice from Cuba (JP Juice and Fruit Passion) at some supermarkets, although admittedly this is mostly "From Concentrate". A better option, perhaps, is to juice your own Fairtrade oranges if you can find them and afford them. One final suggestion is to go for a far less resource-intensive option by drinking apple juice from a local producer.


~~ Price ~~
A 1 litre carton of Tropicana Premium Orange Juice will cost between £1.70 and £2 depending on where you shop. In some supermarkets I have seen it being sold for £3 for two cartons.

Summary: A pasteurised orange juice produced from highly industrialised farming and manufacturing process