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Preventing Health Risks Associated with Drinking
Unpasteurized or Untreated Juice |
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| FDDB Home
> Preventing
Health Risks Associated with Drinking Unpasteurized or Untreated
Juice
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 Orange,
apple, grape or cranberry- juice comes in many
different flavors. Juice provides essential nutrients
that help keep people healthy. Consumers today
have numerous choices when it comes to drinking
juice. One of the decisions they must make is whether
to buy pasteurized or unpasteurized juice. Though
illness due to juice is rare, several outbreaks
of diarrheal illness due to juice have been reported
in the United States in the last decade. Most outbreaks
of illness due to juice have been linked to untreated
or inadequately treated juice products. Most juice
sold in the United States is treated. One of the
most common treatments used is pasteurization. |
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Some
outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to
juice:
1996: Outbreak of E.
coli O157:H7 infections linked
to untreated apple juice sold in
multiple states
2003: Outbreak
of Cryptosporidium infections
linked to apple cider
inadequately treated
with ozone
2005: Outbreak
of Salmonella infections
linked
to inadequately
treated
orange
juice marketed
as ‘fresh
squeezed’ and
sold in
multiple
states |
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 Pasteurized juice
is heated to a high temperature for a short time
before it is sold. By pasteurizing juice, pathogens
(germs) which may be present in the liquid are
killed. Most juice concentrate sold in grocery
stores has been heat treated as part of the concentration
process and this is equivalent to pasteurization.
About 98% of all juices sold in the United States
are pasteurized (1) . Pasteurized juice can be
found as frozen concentrate, displayed at room
temperature or in the refrigerated section of your
supermarket. Pasteurized juice products may say “Pasteurized” on
their labels. Besides pasteurization, some juices
are treated with other processes. |
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Pathogens sometimes found in
unpasteurized juices:
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E.
coli O157:H7
(bacteria) |
Salmonella
(bacteria) |
Cryptosporidium
(parasite) |
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Treated juice,
more commonly found in health-food stores and
farm markets, has been treated to kill pathogens
that may be present in the juice through a method
other than pasteurization, such as UV irradiation,
surface treatment of the fruit or high pressure
treatment. Some types of treated juice may be
marketed as “fresh squeezed.”
The methods used to treat the juice must have
been proven to work and verified by the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA). These processes
must be carried out properly for the treatment
to be successful. If these requirements are
not met, the treatment may not be effective
in killing pathogens and people who consume
the juice may become ill. There have been two
recent outbreaks of illness related to inadequately
treated juices. One was related to inadequate
treatment with ozone and the other to inadequate
surface treatment of the fruit. Treated juice
products have labels that do not have a warning
label like the one below, and do not say “Pasteurized.” Treated
unpasteurized juice is safe if it has been
properly processed by a proven effective treatment
method such as UV irradiation.
 Untreated
(raw) juice has not been
treated in any way to kill pathogens that
may be present. This type of juice may
be found in the refrigerated sections of
grocery stores, health-food stores, cider
mills, and farm markets. Another form of
untreated juice is untreated cider. One
way to make this cider safer is to heat
it to at least 170° F. Prepackaged,
untreated juice must bear a warning label
that looks similar to this one: |
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To minimize health risk, young
children, the elderly and people with weakened
immune systems should not consume packaged
juice that bears the above warning label
or any other form of juice that is known
to be untreated (e.g. untreated juice served
by the glass at a roadside cider stand).
Anyone who wishes to reduce their risk may
follow this recommendation.
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If it is unclear that a juice has been
treated to destroy harmful bacteria, avoid
drinking it. |
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| (1) FDA - www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fttfruit.html |
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Date:
November 17, 2005
Content source: National Center for Infectious Diseases
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