FDA Lowers Orange Juice Sugar Standard for Florida Citrus

Federal officials have announced a change to a long-standing food standard that is expected to provide significant relief to Florida’s struggling citrus industry. On July 17, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the Food and Drug Administration has finalized a rule lowering the minimum sugar content required for pasteurized orange juice sold in the United States.

The announcement was made at Bonnet Springs Park in Lakeland, Florida, with Acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas and several Florida lawmakers in attendance. The new rule reduces the minimum soluble-solids content, measured in degrees Brix, from 10.5 to 10.0. It also allows manufacturers to include up to 15 percent mandarin, tangerine, or hybrid juice by volume. The original standard of identity for pasteurized orange juice was established in 1963.

Officials said the change addresses a major challenge for domestic juice processors, particularly in Florida, where natural factors have depressed the sugar levels in oranges for years. Citrus greening disease, a systemic infection spread by the invasive Asian citrus psyllid, along with hurricanes and hard freezes, have significantly...