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T98-77 Print Media: 301-827-6242
October 23, 1998
Consumer Inquiries: 800-532-4440
FRESH CITRUS JUICE MANUFACTURERS CAN ASK FOR EXTRA TIME
BEFORE WARNING LABELS ARE REQUIRED
FDA announced today that the agency will consider giving
citrus juice manufacturers who agree to meet specific conditions
towards ensuring the safety of their products, up to an
additional eight months to comply with new requirements for
carrying warning labels on packaged fresh citrus juices.
Earlier this summer, FDA established a requirement that
packaged juice products that are not pasteurized or otherwise
processed to prevent, reduce or eliminate illness-causing
microbes (pathogens) must carry a warning statement to inform
consumers of the risk of food borne illness to children, the
elderly and persons with weakened immune systems. The effective
date for displaying the warning was September 8, 1998, for apple
juice and cider, and will be November 5, 1998, for all other
juices.
Today's action responds to citrus industry requests for
additional time to develop a process that will achieve the FDA-required reduction in pathogens (100,000 fold or 5-log). If such
a process is in place, the manufacturer is not required to use a
warning statement on their juice products. Under today's
approach, the agency will grant an 8-month extension to a
manufacturer who agrees to:
- Use the time granted to develop, adapt, and
validate procedures that achieve a 5-log reduction in
the pertinent pathogens.
- Establish interim protection measures using
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HAACP)
principles to identify and correct production
procedures where there is the potential for a food
safety hazard to occur. The interim measures should
include, at a minimum, strict controls for chemical
washing and brushing fruit, sanitizing fruit, culling
damaged fruit, and using only those types of fruit with
skins that are sufficiently smooth and durable to be
cleanable and to remain intact after cleaning.
- Use the warning label on their products no
later than July 8, 1999 unless by that date the firm
can achieve the 5-log reduction in pathogens using a
validated process.
In addition to meeting the criteria outlined above, a
manufacturer must register a request for an extension with the
FDA by December 19, 1998.
FDA also announced today that the agency will sponsor
technical scientific workshops in Florida and California to
discuss methods developed by the citrus industry to reduce
pathogens in fresh citrus juice and the methods for measuring and
validating such systems. Several major fresh citrus juice
producers have already developed and are using such production
methods. The technical workshops will be held Nov. 12, 1998, in
Lake Alfred, Florida, and Nov. 19, 1998, in Irvine,
California.
This is a mirror of the page at
HTTP://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00920.html
Technical Scientific Workshops
Federal Register Notice October 28, 1998
Citrus Firms That Have Filed Agreements with FDA
This document was issued on October 23, 1998
For more recent information on Food Labeling
See http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/label.html
Food Labeling
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