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Thurston County Extension
Food Safety: Food Borne Illness
Make Sure Your Juices are Pasteurized -
The Olympian, September 23, 1998
More than 2 billion gallons of juice will be consumed in the United Sates in 1998. Most fruit and vegetable juice that is sold is pasteurized, which makes it safe to consume. A simple heat treatment such as heat pasteurization effectively destroys bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella. However, some juice products are not pasteurized. In a newly released report, the Food and Drug Administration estimates that nearly 40 million gallons of unpasteurized juice could sicken more than 6,000 consumers this year. While this represents only 2 percent of the total juice production in the United States, these numbers are still significant.
QUESTION: What is pasteurization?
ANSWER: Pasteurization is a processing method that has been used successfully for many years in the dairy industry. It's basically a heat treatment that destroys any disease-causing microorganism. It's a carefully time- and temperature- controlled process that works effectively and efficiently to ensure safety.
QUESTION: Is there a federal law that requires juice to be pasteurized?
ANSWER: Most juice is pasteurized, but there is no federal law at this time that requires the process. Many industry groups and trade associations such as the National Food Processors Association favor requiring that all juices be pasteurized or processed with an equivalent process that ensures safety for consumers. In fact, there are many food scientists, producers and consumer advocacy groups who continue to urge that the FDA protect public health by mandating pasteurization of all fruit and vegetable juices. Federal government agencies also are considering requiring juice producers who don't pasteurize their juice to set up and follow processing procedures to improve the safety of fruit and vegetable juices.
QUESTION: We want to purchase pasteurized juice. How can we be certain what we're buying is pasteurized?
ANSWER: In July, the FDA issued a new regulation that requires a warning label on fruit and vegetable juices that are not pasteurized. However, this label is not required on juice that is sold by the glass in restaurants and juice bars. Approximately 15 percent of the unpasteurized juice manufactured in the United States is consumed this way. That's more than 5 million gallons of juice, or 85 million servings each year. As a consumer, check for the warning label on containers and as questions if you're buying juice by the glass in a food service outlet.
QUESTION: If I purchase unpasteurized juice, is there something I can do to ensure safety?
ANSWER: You can heat the juice at home. It should be heated to 160 degrees F if you're using a thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer, heat to boiling.
QUESTION: Why is pasteurization of fruit juice important?
ANSWER: There have been several outbreaks of E. coli in the past couple of years that have been associated with drinking unpasteurized juice. The illness caused by ingesting E. colic an be especially severe in children, the elderly and individuals with compromised immune systems. E. coli produces a toxin that can cause a condition called hemorrhagic colitis. Symptoms include severe abdominal cramps followed by bloody diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. It also can lead to urinary tract infection and acute kidney failure in children and in some cases, death. So it's better to be safe than sorry and consume pasteurized juices.
One of the reasons that the FDA has been so concerned about the safety of juice is because children are at risk for severe complications of food-borne illness and frequently drink lots of juice.
B. Susie Craig
Area Faculty
WSU Cooperative Extension
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Last updated January 23, 2001