Earlier this month, the Federal Food and Drug Administration opened a 90-day comment period for a proposed change to a more than 60-year-old Standard of Identity (SOI) for pasteurized orange juice. This SOI change would reduce the minimum required Brix from 10.5 to 10.
Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus, and Matt Joyner, CEO and executive vice president of Florida Citrus Mutual, sat down with The Packer to discuss the motivation to make this change and what it will mean for consumers.
Most importantly, Shepp and Joyner say consumers won’t notice the drop from 10.5 to 10 Brix. It’s still orange juice, just with a little less sugar.
“We’ve done numerous consumer panels,” Joyner says. “We know the consumers can’t tell the difference between that half,” he says. “All the other nutrition components other than just a shade less sugar, are the same. So, you’re still getting all the nutrients that people come to expect out of Florida orange juice, and maybe with just a touch less sugar.”
Shepp, whose organization is an executive agency of the state charged with the marketing, research and regulation of Florida citrus, points out the other health and nutritional benefits that draw consumers to orange juice remain the same and this change comes within a regulatory framework to hold all orange juice to a high standard.
“You’re still getting the original wellness drink and everything that comes along with it: potassium, vitamin C, folate, no added sugar,” she says. “What you’re going to taste coming out of the carton is not going to be significantly different. This is really a move that gets us within the right regulatory framework and helps more Florida oranges get in the carton.”
Shepp says this SOI helps hold orange juice sold in stores to a high quality.
“It’s a quality guardrail for the industry, but it’s also a neon sign that tells consumers what is in the carton, and that we’re going for the best quality,” she says. “That’s why we as an industry decided, from a consensus position, processors, growers and even the Florida Citrus Commission, that we did need to petition the FDA to get it right.”
This change, Shepp and Joyner say, came out of a strong need expressed by the Florida citrus industry, starting back in 2022. The industry advocated for the need for this update as growers battled both citrus greening and recovery from several hurricanes, which caused reductions in production. Joyner, whose organization is the state’s largest trade association representing Florida citrus growers, says this update is long overdue.
“We find ourselves having to blend higher Brix and lower Brix,” he says. “The processors in some cases even import to blend up with other higher Brix juice. Not only the higher Brix juice in Florida, which, as a result of these storms, has been a real scarce commodity because of the reduction in production, but also the need for imports. This gives relief to the processors and the growers. It enables us to take all of our oranges to the processing facility and have them utilize that without having to find and blend up to a higher arbitrary standard.”
Shepp points out the Florida citrus industry exceeded the minimum Brix of 10.5 for a long time before citrus greening took hold and the devastating hurricanes in 2017, 2022 and 2024 caused a change in production. And this change in Brix will help get more Florida-grown oranges into the blends.
“If you’re using more Florida oranges in the carton, that is a better return to growers and processors that have significant infrastructure here in Florida, and that allows for reinvestment into an industry for more recovery issues, whether that’s therapeutics or replanting trees, etc.,” she says.
And Joyner says, the most important thing for consumers to understand is this change in Brix still means consumers are bringing home a product that meets stringent quality standards.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to put a product on the shelf that we know meets consumer expectations and is a high-quality product,” he says. “This allows arcane labeling laws to not stand in the way of using this Florida commodity. From the end user perspective, it’s going to be the same juice they’ve always known and loved.”
