Wary FDA Wants Unpasteurized Juices Labeled

WASHINGTON —  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday asked juice makers to label unpasteurized products and said it will impose legal requirements to reduce the risk of food poisoning.

A spate of illnesses from microbes in food, including a toxic strain of the E. coli bacteria, has made consumers and government alike wary of dangers in the food supply.

The latest E. coli outbreak involves hamburger, which has made 17 people sick. But fruits and vegetables can also carry infection.

Last year, one child died and 66 other people became ill in an outbreak linked to unpasteurized apple juice. Another deadly outbreak in Japan was tentatively linked to radish tops.

The FDA plan announced Tuesday includes educating the public about potential risks from fresh, unpasteurized apple and orange juice to the very young, the very old and the very ill.

Manufacturers will be asked to label juice that has not been pasteurized so that consumers will know there is a risk, however slight, that microbes might be there. Pasteurizing means the juice is heated to kill microscopic organisms that may be harmful.

Eventually juice makers will be required to implement complex plans for making sure their processes are clean. Known as a hazard analysis and critical control point safety program, this requires them to document checks at points along the processing and packaging of food.

“It could also extend all the way out to things such as contract arrangements to say that if you’re going to be making a product with apples, you don’t want apples that have dropped to the ground--you want apples that have been picked off the tree,” FDA spokesman Arthur Whitmore said.

The FDA said it may also make the labeling mandatory, he said, adding that only about 2% of juices sold in the United States are untreated.