{"id":23045,"date":"2025-08-18T09:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T09:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?p=23045"},"modified":"2025-08-18T09:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T09:53:11","slug":"florida-juices-oranges-happily-after-fda-sugar-cut-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/08\/18\/florida-juices-oranges-happily-after-fda-sugar-cut-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida juices oranges happily after FDA&#8217;s sugar cut proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)\u2019s proposal to reduce fruit sugar content in pasteurized juices has garnered praise in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Federal Register report,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2025\/08\/14\/2025-15473\/food-standards-of-identity-modernization-pasteurized-orange-juice-proposed-rule-correction\"><u>revised&nbsp;<\/u><\/a>on August 14, 2025, proposes to bring pasteurized orange juice sweetness from 10.5\u00ba to 10\u00ba Brix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The change will mandate processors to feature 17 grams (g) of sugar derived from oranges in each 8-oz measure, down from 18 g.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The modernization of identity in juice content standards directly stems from a<a href=\" www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/08\/06\/orange-juice-prices-tumble-and-fall-in-the-un\"><u>&nbsp;2022 petition<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;by Florida\u2019s citrus industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Florida Citrus Processors Association in 2022, the Sunshine State\u2019s average orange fruit sweetness has decreased to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/food-drink\/orange-juice-sugar-cuts-proposed-fda-help-citrus-growers-what-means-you\"><u>9.7\u00ba Brix<\/u><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the reigning content identity standard came up in 1963 courtesy of the FDA, state oranges boasted 11.8\u00ba Brix.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A wave of storms and citrus greening infection have gradually impacted&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/70-foods-that-start-with-o\/\"><u>fresh orange<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;sugariness in America\u2019s leading citrus state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So severe has the reduction been that juicers have increasingly resorted to imports of blending fruits from Latin America to meet regulations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-makes-a-huge-difference\"><strong>Makes a Huge Difference<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>State Republican Senator Ashley Moody praised the proposal as one that will make \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/floridianpress.com\/2025\/08\/moody-praises-fda-over-proposal-to-lower-orange-juice-sugar-standard\/\"><u>a HUGE difference for Florida\u2019s citrus growers<\/u><\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uncle Matt\u2019s Organic juice brand in turn told Fox News that it currently attains 11.8\u00ba Brix content but still supports cuts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For growers, this means expanding cultivation while fearing no more of compromising food safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proposal echoes the \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d initiative by the Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr. Its success will signal whether Florida juices more of its signature fruit, escaping the not-always safe imports.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The public has until November 14, 2025 to air opinions on the sugar content regulation, including suggesting lower Brix levels. Support is almost given because the state\u2019s citrus farmers supply much to the beverage industry, per the next statistics.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-florida-orange-juices-statistics\"><strong>Florida Orange <strong>Juices<\/strong>\u00a0Statistics\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Oranges remain the most popular processing fruit in the United States, accounting for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fb.org\/market-intel\/u-s-citrus-production-an-uphill-battle-to-survive\"><u>70%<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of juice production. In 2021, top producer state, Florida, registered output decline, forcing the United States to import orange juice worth $<a href=\"https:\/\/edis.ifas.ufl.edu\/publication\/FE1145\"><u>362 million<\/u><\/a>\u00a0to cover the gap. Florida also lost its top spot in federal orange production in 2024 at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/worldpopulationreview.com\/state-rankings\/orange-production-by-state\"><u>20.5 million tonnes<\/u><\/a>, to California at 45.8 million tonnes. A 2017-2023 set of hurricanes and citrus greening were the main causes for declining harvests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Is Florida still the U.S.\u2019 biggest orange juicer?<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before the falling harvests counted, Florida accounted for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/flawlesscooking.com\/what-states-produce-orange-juice\/\"><u>70%&nbsp;<\/u><\/a>of orange juice origin in the United States. Besides,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/crec.ifas.ufl.edu\/media\/crecifasufledu\/citrus-research\/docs\/citrus-show-2021\/Zansler_Citrus_Show2021.pdf\"><u>90%<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;of juice processors inside the Sunshine State got fruit supplies from within the state in the 2019-20 timeline. This was nearly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/crec.ifas.ufl.edu\/media\/crecifasufledu\/citrus-research\/docs\/citrus-show-2021\/Zansler_Citrus_Show2021.pdf\"><u>300 million solid pounds<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;of oranges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How much is American OJ consumption versus Florida\u2019s production?<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/crec.ifas.ufl.edu\/media\/crecifasufledu\/citrus-research\/docs\/citrus-show-2021\/Zansler_Citrus_Show2021.pdf\"><u>IFAS&#8217; Florida Citrus review,<\/u><\/a>\u00a0Americans used to take over 5 gallons of orange juice (OJ) per capita in the 1990s. Consumption reduced significantly to just over 2 gallons per person per year\u00a0in the early 2020s. In the same timeline, Florida\u2019s OJ production declined from over 5 gallons per capita to approximately 1 gallon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Did Florida produce much oranges<\/strong> <strong>just before the decline?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of&nbsp;the 2020-21 season,&nbsp;Florida&nbsp;averaged&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nass.usda.gov\/Statistics_by_State\/Florida\/Publications\/Citrus\/Citrus_Forecast\/2022-23\/cit1222a.pdf\"><u>52,950,000 boxes<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;of oranges, leading California with its 49,000,000 boxes.&nbsp;A similar federal production lead happened in the&nbsp;2021-22 season&nbsp;at&nbsp;41,050,000 boxes,&nbsp;while&nbsp;California&nbsp;had&nbsp;40,400,000&nbsp;boxes.&nbsp;It is in the&nbsp;2022-23&nbsp;harvest that Florida finally lost grip, with only&nbsp;20,000,000 boxes, half&nbsp;California\u2019s&nbsp;47,100,000 boxes. This is according to the USDA\u2019s National Agricultural Statistics Service (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nass.usda.gov\/Statistics_by_State\/Florida\/Publications\/Citrus\/Citrus_Forecast\/2022-23\/cit1222a.pdf\"><u>NASS<\/u><\/a>), in&nbsp;December&nbsp;2023. &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)\u2019s proposal to reduce fruit sugar content in pasteurized juices has garnered praise in Florida. A Federal Register report,&nbsp;revised&nbsp;on August 14, 2025, proposes to bring pasteurized orange juice sweetness from 10.5\u00ba to 10\u00ba Brix. The change will mandate processors to feature 17 grams (g) of sugar derived from oranges in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.3 (Yoast SEO v20.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Florida juices oranges happily after FDA&#039;s sugar cut proposal - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/08\/18\/florida-juices-oranges-happily-after-fda-sugar-cut-proposal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida juices oranges happily after FDA&#039;s sugar cut proposal - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)\u2019s proposal to reduce fruit sugar content in pasteurized juices has garnered praise in Florida. 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