I generally avoid produce from Mexico for various reasons. But as such, I've been favoring Florida's Natural brand for OJ - juice made with Florida oranges only.

But apparently this changed last year and I missed it. Their OJ may now contain juice from oranges from Mexico (and Brazil).

Looks like I need to research OJ's again - OJ from oranges grown in USA only.

A little doubly pissed w/ Florida's Natural; they have the America flag on the containers and indicate that the company is owned by US farmers. Which may be true but is suggestive that its juice is still 100% Florida oranges. To me, that's misleading.

Sigh.

I thought all orange juice these days comes from a blend of juices from various countries?

IIRC Florida had a bad growing season and they probably had to source other supplies this year.

I only buy Florida's Natural as I think it tastes the best. Also Publix has it on sale about once a month & I buy several. Your post made me look at the container. "Farmer owned in the USA" "A premium blend from our Florida groves and the world's premier citrus-growing regions". Damn, I am now disappointed.

The other thing that Florida's Natural did, that annoys me even more: the juice used to be fresh squeezed, sold by a co-op of local citrus grove owners. Quite a few years ago, I was asked to give them a quote for some software development -- database and bookkeeping type stuff; I looked at what they thought they wanted, and I declined to quote on the project.

In any event, the growers in the co-op would deliver truckloads of oranges to the local warehouse, where the juice would be squeezed, packed in containers that proudly proclaimed "NOT FROM CONCENTRATE," and sold in grocery stores.

Now, it is no longer fresh-squeezed juice. It is reconstituted from concentrate. Not the same good juice any more. And, just like every other company in the business, the former half-gallon package now contains 52 ounces vs. 64. So, less juice, lower quality, and higher price. What's not to like?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I thought all orange juice these days comes from a blend of juices from various countries?

IIRC Florida had a bad growing season and they probably had to source other supplies this year.

Probably many do which is why I had settled on Florida's Natural. If they had said "we need to make an exception for now and blend in oranges from different regions because we don't have enough oranges from Florida this year / next year" then fine; I could accept that.

But to make the policy change and still suggest Florida oranges is a bit sneaky to me. I hadn't noticed it for a year it seems. I feel cheated. If they were more explicit about it when the policy changed, I missed the memo entirely but that would have been my issue. So, I'm searching - did they announce such that I should have known? Or was this a bit underhanded and the tried to have this go unnoticed?

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
The other thing that Florida's Natural did, that annoys me even more: the juice used to be fresh squeezed, sold by a co-op of local citrus grove owners. Quite a few years ago, I was asked to give them a quote for some software development -- database and bookkeeping type stuff; I looked at what they thought they wanted, and I declined to quote on the project.

In any event, the growers in the co-op would deliver truckloads of oranges to the local warehouse, where the juice would be squeezed, packed in containers that proudly proclaimed "NOT FROM CONCENTRATE," and sold in grocery stores.

Now, it is no longer fresh-squeezed juice. It is reconstituted from concentrate. Not the same good juice any more. And, just like every other company in the business, the former half-gallon package now contains 52 ounces vs. 64. So, less juice, lower quality, and higher price. What's not to like?

Good point. I was noticing that too - it seems there is some speculation that the juice from Florida oranges is squeezed but the juice from mexico / brazil is from concentrate. And there was some notes that concentrated juice may sit for 2+ years in a warehouse before being used.

Florida's Natural has become disappointing. Perhaps no different than other brands but no longer a go-to brand for me. I actually noted something different in taste awhile back but I thought it was just a seasonal artifact. It never occurred to me that their policy had changed. Now it's just another OJ.

And it does seem that they were trying to have this change go somewhat unnoticed.

What it's made from is on the bottle. They've addressed the changes on their website. What more should they have done?

Florida’s Natural FAQs

Why has Florida’s Natural started adding Mexican Valencia orange juice to its Florida not-from-concentrate orange juice?

Unfortunately, the Florida orange crop has been declining for decades while our fans continue to buy more and more Florida’s Natural orange juice. The Florida orange crop can no longer meet our consumer demand, so we are adding in only the best Mexican Valencia orange juice. This allows us to continue supplying enough orange juice for consumers’ increasing thirst while maintaining the superior taste they love from Florida’s Natural.

Why is Florida’s Natural now a “from concentrate” orange juice?

Florida’s Natural orange juice still contains our delicious, Florida premium Not From Concentrate orange juice. Because of the declining Florida crop, though, the farmers of Florida’s Natural had to seek additional orange juice sources to meet consumer demand. After an exhaustive search, where no other Not From Concentrate orange juice met our high standards for superior taste, we found the very best Mexican Valencia orange juice concentrate, that really delivers on taste. As always, we are committed to bringing you only the best-tasting orange juice around. Give it a try, we’re sure you’ll love it!

I'm not at all surprised to hear they were forced to source OJ from other countries. I think it's way more common than you think; take a look at the bottle of extra virgin olive oil you may have, it will often say it comes from a blend of oils from Spain, Turkey, Israel, Italy, Greece and so on.

Many other brands globally source. The reason I chose Florida Natural was their brand promise - farmer owned using only Florida oranges.

They've broken that brand promise. So, disappointingly, there is no reason for me to stay w/ the brand. Perhaps there is no alternative at this point for USA only juice.

I suspect the sales appeal of an accurately-labeled-for-the-current-product "From Anywhere Including Florida Natural OJ" would be limited....

I live about 25 miles north of their plant where they make the orange juice. I live in Polk County Fl and at one time I think we had more orange groves than any other part of central Florida if not the state.

Over the years between the crop disease issues,freezes and the fact that most farmers have given in to the money big developers are willing to pay for the land this has led to the issue. They can't get enough oranges because most of the groves are gone.

At one point not that long ago the area I live in was surrounded by orange groves. During certain times of the year you could smell the orange blossom's all around this area. For the most part the groves are all gone and have been replaced by homes.

quote:

At one point not that long ago the area I live in was surrounded by orange groves. During certain times of the year you could smell the orange blossom's all around this area. For the most part the groves are all gone and have been replaced by homes.

This is a big part of it declining availability of Florida Grown citrus, Mega developers have bought up much of the land that was used for citrus production, and its exacerbated by the massive move in from up north requiring additional development.

There just are not as many groves as there used to be.

Nor dairy and beef cattle, nor truck farms, nor deer, bear, quail, and cottontail habitat ...
pinelands gone, oak hammocks obliterated, cypress swamps drained ...

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

At one point not that long ago the area I live in was surrounded by orange groves. During certain times of the year you could smell the orange blossom's all around this area. For the most part the groves are all gone and have been replaced by homes.

This is a big part of it declining availability of Florida Grown citrus, Mega developers have bought up much of the land that was used for citrus production, and its exacerbated by the massive move in from up north requiring additional development.

There just are not as many groves as there used to be.

We also used to be big on beef cattle in central Florida, not any more.

At least once a week on the neighbors section of my Ring camera app someone is posting either bear sightings or coyote sighting in their neighborhoods. I love it when they post "someone needs to do something about this" before I can post someone usually post "Yea, you all need to stop moving into their habitat" or something like that.

Another one is " I hear gun shots did anyone else hear gun shots" and someone will post "people shoot on their property and have been doing it longer than you have lived here". In certain parts of the county it's legal. A friend has a 25 yard range on his five acres he owns.

Thousands of acres in central Florida, and a lot of it near where I live had been woods and swamps for hundreds of years.
Now its nothing but houses with more on the way.

This information might help explain the situation...

Link

You’re about to pay more for orange juice as Florida citrus growers see the smallest crop since the Great Depression

A morning ritual for millions of Americans could be considerably more expensive in the coming months. Orange juice prices are expected to soar as Florida citrus growers are on track to harvest their lowest crop since the heart of the Great Depression.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates growers will only fill 15.65 million boxes of oranges this season. For comparison, the 2021-2022 season, which was considered disappointing, saw growers fill 41.2 million boxes. Twenty years ago, the average output for the state was in the neighborhood of 200 million boxes.

The shortfall is a result of back-to-back hurricanes in 2022 and a citrus greening disease. A hard freeze in January only exacerbated the issue.

Citrus is a $6.7 billion industry in Florida. And while California has since taken the lead at the nation’s biggest orange grower, there is some good news on the horizon for farmers in the Sunshine State. A treatment for the citrus greening issue is showing some promise. And state legislators have passed a bill which will provide $49.5 million in relief, a $12.5 million increase from this year. That bill is currently awaiting the signature of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Orange juice futures, on ICE Futures US, have increased by nearly 25% in the past three months and are up 71% in the past year.

Things could get worse. The USDA will issue further updates to its forecast in June and July.

While the problems in Florida are particularly bad this year, the citrus industry in general is suffering, due to climate change. A severe drought last season in California and Brazil, another top grower, drove prices higher earlier this year.

The U.S. is expected to import more oranges from Mexico to meet demand.

Citrus Greening is a disease with no cure that’s decimating the groves. I won’t blame farmers for selling out.

I was a died-in-the-wool Florida's Naturals OJ drinker for eons but quit last year when prices went nuts and fresh squeezed "died."

We used to only buy Florida's Natural OJ, then we tried COSTCO (Kirkland) Organic Not From Concentrate OJ. Haven't looked back. <$10 for a two pack.

Sam's Club does fresh squeezed in store, but sometime their machine gets too much Orange Peel oil, giving it an off flavor. >$9 for one.

About once every two weeks I pick up a hotdog plate at a local drive through that is famous for its homemade orange drink... I think it is fresh squeezed orange juice and club soda.... last year for a while they had a sign in the window warning folks that their orange drink was from fresh squeezed oranges and not pasturised juice. Seems the S.C. department of health made them do this.
I never would have thought that fresh squeezed was dangerous.

Yesterday was the first time I ever had Natalie's Orange Juice and I must say it is the best I have ever tasted. It is a little pricey but is made with all Florida oranges and processed right here on the Treasure Coast in Saint Lucie County. I have passed by the plant thousands of times over the years and yesterday was the first time I tried it. Funny how that is.