FDA Issues Jan 20 Weekly Update on Orange Juice Products and Carbendazim
The Food and Drug Administration has issued its January 20, 2012 weekly sampling update on imported and domestic orange juice products that may be contaminated with the fungicide carbendazim. FDA states that based on the Environmental Protection Agency's conclusions from its preliminary risk assessment, consumption of orange juice with carbendazim at the low levels that have been reported to date does not raise safety concerns. (Sampling and testing of imports at the border began on January 4, 2012, with FDA planning to refuse any imports that tested for carbendazim at 10 ppb or more. FDA had also provided rules for exempting manufacturers from testing.)
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Actions noted by FDA in its January 20 update include the following:
- FDA has sent a letter to the Juice Products Association stating that it does not intend to take action to remove from domestic commerce orange juice containing the reported low levels of carbendazim.
- FDA is conducting its own testing of orange juice for carbendazim. 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.
- To ensure the continued safety of orange juice, FDA is also sampling import shipments of orange juice and will deny entry to shipments that test positive for carbendazim.
(See ITT's Online Archives 12012029 for summary of FDA Q&A document geared to consumers on carbendazim. See ITT's Online Archives 12011704 for summary of FDA's first weekly update on its import sampling program. See ITT's Online Archives 12011221 for initial summary on FDA sampling of imported orange juice products for carbendazim.)