After a juice company found low levels of the fungicide carbendazim in orange juice last month, the FDA is increasing its testing efforts on the chemical in orange juice. While fungicides are used to stop losses from fungi and fungal spores, and carbendazim is approved for use on many crops, the EPA has not approved that fungicide for use on orange trees. The levels were at 35 parts per billion, which is below the European Union’s maximum level of 200 parts per billion. The United States doesn’t have a specified maximum level set for carbendazim.
Florida grows most of the oranges juice used in orange juice concentrate. Brazil provides the majority of imported juice used to make concentrate. Carbendazim is legal in Brazil, which raises the question about chemicals that are illegal to use on crops in this country, but are used on imported crops.
In fact, the United States produces many banned pesticides even though they are not registered with the EPA and exports them to other countries.
Those chemicals may come back into the country on food we import, in a cycle that some call the “circle of poison”. In 2001, the UN declared the U.S. export of banned pesticides “immoral”. The FDA has said that they find illegal pesticide residues in 1 to 2% of domestic produce and in 5% of imported produce.
The juice company, which has not been named, found the banned fungicide in its own juice and competitors’ juices. The FDA has written a letter to the executive director of the Juice Products Association that states:
Fungicides are chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill or inhibit fungi or fungal spores that can cause serious damage in agriculture. Carbendazim is approved for use in a variety of crops, including citrus, in many countries.
In the United States, however, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not approved carbendazim for use as a fungicide on oranges, nor has it established a tolerance or an exemption from the need for a tolerance for carbendazim in orange juice in the United States. Thus, carbendazim in orange juice is an unlawful pesticide chemical residue under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
On Dec. 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. Industry reports indicate that carbendazim is present in orange juice products from the 2011 crop from Brazil, where the fungicide is used legally under Brazilian law to combat black spot, a type of mold that grows on orange trees.
The Environmental Protection Agency has conducted a preliminary risk assessment based on the recent reports of carbendazim in orange juice. Based on that risk assessment, EPA has concluded that consumption of orange juice with carbendazim at the low levels that have been reported does not raise safety concerns.
FDA does not intend to take action to remove from domestic commerce orange juice containing the reported low levels of carbendazim. FDA is, however, conducting its own testing of orange juice for carbendazim, and, if the agency identifies orange juice with carbendazim at levels that present a public health risk, it will alert the public and take the necessary action to ensure that the product is removed from the market.
FDA is also sampling import shipments of orange juice and will deny entry to shipments that test positive for carbendazim.
