FDA Puts Squeeze On Orange Juice Shipments, Checks For Fungicide

Determined not to let orange juice double as unintentional contraception, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has frozen shipments to check for carbendazim, a fungicide banned in much of the world that is believed to cause infertility. As much as 25 percent of the American juice supply comes from abroad, and the FDA acted on a report that a juice company detected the fungicide in imports from Brazil, which provides 11 percent of America’s OJ.

According to CNNMoney, the testing process will take five to 10 business days. If the FDA spots any carbendazim, it will turn the shipments away or destroy them. In order to speed things along, the FDA will let companies with three consecutive clean shipments off the hook for further testing.

Don’t flip out and throw all your juice away. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the level of carbendazim found in the initial report were not high enough to put consumers in danger.

FDA halts orange juice shipments to test for fungicide [CNNMoney]

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