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Food Safety – Juice
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55033630
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Food Safety – Juice
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Records of the Domestic Policy Council (Clinton Administration)
Tom Freedman's Files
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Questions and Answers
Q. What did the President announce today?
Q. How much disease is associated with juices?
Q. What effect will the President's announcement have?
Q. Could this have prevented some past incidents, such as Odwalla?
Q. When will it take effect? How does it effect the juice season?
Q. How does this fit with the President's overall plan for food safety?
Q. How much will it cost?
Q. How will this effect small farmers and road side stands?
Top News
Report: Odwalla in Plea Deal Talks
Sports
SEATTLE (AP) -- A company that produced unpasteurized apple juice
linked to an E. coli outbreak in 1996 is negotiating a plea agreement in
Lotteries
which it would admit to federal food-safety violations, a newspaper
reported today.
International
The bacterial outbreak linked to Odwalla apple juice killed a Colorado girl
National
and made nearly 70 other people ill in Washington, other states and British
Columbia.
Washington
Odwalla Inc. is likely to agree to a deal in which it would plead guilty to
Business
about a dozen misdemeanor charges related to food-safety deficiencies at
its Dinuba, Calif., production plant, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported,
Wall Street
citing unidentified sources.
Entertainment
No company officials would be charged, but the company would pay a $1.5
million criminal fine, the sources said.
Health/Science
The only larger fine in an adulterated-food case in the United States was $2
Regional
million paid by Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp. in 1987 for selling phony apple
juice intended for babies, the paper said.
Unless negotiations break down, the Odwalla plea agreement is expected to
be filed in federal court in California in the next few weeks, the sources
said.
A federal grand jury in Fresno, Calif., has been investigating whether
Odwalla, based in Half Moon Bay, Calif., ignored safety standards at the
time of the outbreak.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Johns, who has headed the investigation,
said he could neither confirm nor deny that a plea deal had been reached.
Odwalla spokesman Chris Gallagher also declined to comment.
Company executives have acknowledged their safety systems didn't keep
out the bacteria and said they didn't realize E. coli could live in something
as acidic as apple juice. The company has since begun pasteurizing its
apple juice.
Odwalla also faces at least two lawsuits filed by the families of two
children who fell ill.
(PROFILE (CO:Odwalla Inc; TS:ODWA; IG:BVG;) (CAT:Business;)
(CAT:Consumer;) )
AP-NY-04-15-98 1006EDT
1 of 2
04/15/98 1(
Report: Odwalla in Plea Deal Talks
http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpntlp.htm
Top News
Report: Odwalla in Plea Deal Talks
Sports
SEATTLE (AP) -- A company that produced unpasteurized apple juice
linked to an E. coli outbreak in 1996 is negotiating a plea agreement in
Lotteries
which it would admit to federal food-safety violations, a newspaper
reported today.
International
The bacterial outbreak linked to Odwalla apple juice killed a Colorado girl
National
and made nearly 70 other people ill in Washington, other states and British
Columbia.
Washington
Odwalla Inc. is likely to agree to a deal in which it would plead guilty to
Business
about a dozen misdemeanor charges related to food-safety deficiencies at
its Dinuba, Calif., production plant, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported,
Wall Street
citing unidentified sources.
Entertainment
No company officials would be charged, but the company would pay a $1.5
million criminal fine, the sources said.
Health/Science
The only larger fine in an adulterated-food case in the United States was $2
Regional
million paid by Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp. in 1987 for selling phony apple
juice intended for babies, the paper said.
Unless negotiations break down, the Odwalla plea agreement is expected to
be filed in federal court in California in the next few weeks, the sources
said.
A federal grand jury in Fresno, Calif., has been investigating whether
Odwalla, based in Half Moon Bay, Calif., ignored safety standards at the
time of the outbreak.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Johns, who has headed the investigation,
said he could neither confirm nor deny that a plea deal had been reached.
Odwalla spokesman Chris Gallagher also declined to comment.
Company executives have acknowledged their safety systems didn't keep
out the bacteria and said they didn't realize E. coli could live in something
as acidic as apple juice. The company has since begun pasteurizing its
apple juice.
Odwalla also faces at least two lawsuits filed by the families of two
children who fell ill.
(PROFILE (CO:Odwalla Inc; TS:ODWA; IG:BVG;) (CAT:Business;)
(CAT:Consumer;))
AP-NY-04-15-98 1006EDT
1 of 2
04/15/98 10:44:56
24
Food Safety-
juice
tion
ciated Cases per Year (FDA based on Todd)" in Table 11 is calculated in a
ower
TABLE 11.-ESTIMATES OF JUICE-ASSOCIATED CASES PER YEAR
1% on
Estimate of Under-
Estimate of Actual
Estimate of Under-
Estimate of Actual
No. of Juice-Associ-
No. of Juice-Associ-
t base
Hazard
Severity
reporting Correction
reporting Correction
Factor (FDA based
Factor (FDA based
ated Cases per Year
ated Cases per Year
on Bennett)
on Todd)
(FDA based on Ben-
(FDA based on
ence
nett)
Todd)
'oit
Mild
ND
195
ND
1950
Moderate
ND
20
ND
130
imptic
Severe-acute
ND
7
ND
30
Severe-chronic
ND
7
ND
3
Death
ND
7
ND
4
LB
E. coli O157:H7
Total cases
ND
2,100
Mild
307
474
4,340
6.700
Moderate
307
45
2010
290
Severe
246
4
268
4
Reactive arthritis-
307
474
150
230
short term
OJ
no
Reactive arthritis-
307
474
300
460
long term
to
Death
246
I
5
Pas
Salmonella inon typhi)
Total cases
6.600
7,000
why
Mild
100
100
4,300
4,300
po
Moderate
10
10
40
40
Severe
no
5
5
20
2
Death
5
5
04
04
C parvum
Total cases
4,300
4,300
she
Mild
96
1.615
2.020
33,980
Moderate
96
1.615
20
340
Severe
0
0
0
0
Death
0
0
0
0
B. cereus
Total cases
2,000
34,300
D
SSOC
8. Percent of Cases Preventable by Proposal
In general, most pathogens will be eliminated when juice is heat-treated. For example,
Isn't this
Cryptosporidium, E. coli O157:H7, and Salmonella should all be completely eliminated from juice
assumpl
by standard methods of flash pasteurization (absent extraordinarily high counts, detrimental human
How
likels
these
miti
intervention, or equipment failure). However, hazards associated with B. cereus will not necessarily
that
all
mnf
be eliminated by heat treatment. This bacterium forms spores which are more difficult to kill by
heat. After heat treatment, if the spores survive, they may grow out and produce a toxin which
causes illness. Ideally, the best way to reduce illness associated with B. cereus is by killing the
bacterium in its nonspore state before any toxin has been produced. For most types of heat-treated
juice, there is a small probability that the heat treatment will take place when B. cereus is in
its nonspore state. To the extent that processors adopt controls for these hazards other than flash
11/16/98
15:25
FAX
202
690
2119
USDA OSEC
001/001
211
Orange Juice Makers Say They Can Meet Higher FDA Standard
Fallsitely
Duice
( U/ e
By Jerry Jackson, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Nov. 13-LAKE ALFRED, Fla.--Warning labels that could frighten consumers away from fresh orange juice
could turn out to be rarer than those colorful citrus-carton labels of yesteryear.
Signs or labels warning consumers that fresh-squeezed juice has not been pasteurized will not be needed if
companies can meet tough new quality standards, state and federal officials said Thursday.
A number of small juice producers responded that, not only can they meet the higher standards, they
already are meeting them -- and others can, too.
"It's challenging but it's doable," Frank Martelli, manager of Orchid Island Juice Co. of Fort Pierce,
testified during a Food and Drug Administration hearing in Polk County. "We've done it and we think we've done
it in a convincing manner."
Peter Chaires, vice president of the Florida Gift Fruit Shippers Association, said he is confident the more
than 140 member companies in his Orlando-based group will meet the higher standards - which means
warning signs and labels will never see the light of day.
The bottom line, out of hundreds of pages of regulations, is that companies that squeeze and sell fresh
citrus juice need to document that they make a 100,000-fold reduction in potentially harmful microbes. Such
a "5-log reduction," as it is called, is now considered the scientific standard for slashing potential contamination
to negligible levels, FDA officials said.
The new anti-contamination rules - requiring the labels or advanced treatment and testing - took effect this
month for all types of fresh juice. But because of confusion over the rules, the FDA is giving citrus companies
until July to get things in order.
Even with the delay, companies must file a waiver letter and pledge that they are working toward
compliance, with interim protective measures in place.
One microbial scientist, Steven Pao of the Florida Department of Citrus, testified that research he helped
conduct shows that a simple technique -- briefly immersing oranges or grapefruit in hot water -- can do the trick.
Pao and another researcher inoculated the rind of Valencia oranges with common E. coli bacteria and
achieved a 5-log reduction by dunking the fruit for 1 minute in water heated to 176 degrees, or for 2 minutes at
158 degrees.
Such water is hot enough to kill bacteria without hurting the taste or quality of the juice, Pao said -- as long
as the fruit is not left in the water too long. As little as 4 minutes at the cooler temperature or 2 minutes at the
hotter level begins to change the flavor.
That's why pasteurized juice tastes a little different from fresh - it's heated to kill germs.
The manager of one small juice company said he has already installed a natural-gas boiler to heat water in
a 500-gallon tank. He said he plans to begin sending his fruit through the hot bath rather than using the older,
but less effective method of a chlorine wash.
A hot-water bath may be good, but various anti-microbial chemicals will still likely be widely used -- and may
even be necessary, one industry lawyer testified. He said small-business owners need to make sure that
whatever they try is properly labeled for use on food, to avoid running afoul of some other food-quality
regulation.
Some small fruit-company owners at the hearing were miffed by all the technical jargon and legal nuances --
and by what they consider regulatory overkill.
"Our store is 83 years old, and no one has ever gotten sick on our juice," said Stephanie Bojokles, owner of
Tropical Fruit Shop of Palm Beach.
Visit The Orlando Sentinel Online on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com or on America
Online at keyword: OSO (c) 1998, The Orlando Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business
News.
Copyright (c) 1998 Knight-Ridder / Tribune Business News
Received by NewsEDGE/LAN: 11/13/98 6:11 PM