Purchasing Orange Juice for Your Family

Marketing Gimmick: Not From Concentrate (NFC) orange juice does not mean fresher than concentrated OJ

We live in Toronto, Canada, so do not have the luxury of going to our backyard, picking fresh oranges and juicing them. Still we love to drink orange juice, a call which is answered by a trip to the local big box grocery store. Orange Juice can be expensive, so I have done several blind taste tests on the family to see if they can tell the difference between types. In summary, there is no difference in taste between concentrate and “not from concentrate” (NFC) types. Canada Grade “A” No Name brands taste the same as good as the name brands. Added calcium does not change the taste of OJ. Chinese orange juice is discernibly tarter and therefore easy to identify. If you can buy orange juice for $1CAD/litre, this is good economy.

I have always wondered if “Not from Concentrate” orange juice was a marketing gimmick. On sale it is just a little more expensive than concentrated OJ, but my family cannot tell the difference in taste. At regular price NFC OJ can be more than double the price of concentrated OJ. It turns out that NFC OJ is indeed a marketing gimmick. “Not from Concentrate” does not mean fresher, even though this is implied.

“It’s a misconception that it’s freshly squeezed from the groves of Florida,” she said.

Rather, it’s often a heavily processed product. In the pasteurization process, it’s heated, stripped of oxygen and flavor chemicals, then put in huge storage vats for up to a year. When it’s ready for packaging, flavor derived from orange essence and oils is added to make it taste fresh. Each company has its own special flavor pack, but to call it natural at this point is a real stretch, she said.

Apparently my favourite “with pulp” OJ is more nutritious than the filtered OJ. There’s more fibre, that’s for sure, and may be more flavourful. Similar to bones in meat, the kids find the pulp a hassle. How they exercise their mandibles constantly, so easily and on a daily basis, even without extra pulp, is a mystery.

We have had our share of Chinese orange juice. Chinese apparently like a tarter tasting orange, so their OJ is naturally the same. Still, I would not trust Chinese OJ after their milk debacle.

The large beverage companies all market OJ. Tropicana is PepsiCo, and Minute Maid is Coca-Cola. My wife does not like to drink either Pepsi nor Coke, so was shocked when I told her the ownership of these major OJ brand names. Oh dear!

I do like the newer versions of concentrated OJ that offers added calcium. It is hard to get the kids their proper daily calcium intake. OJ with added calcium cannot be legally labeled “Canada Grade A” here in Canada because it is no longer natural, as stated by the Canada Food Inspection Agency:

Foods or ingredients of foods submitted to processes that have significantly altered their original physical, chemical or biological state should not be described as “natural”. This includes such changes as the removal of caffeine.

• A natural food or ingredient of a food is not expected to contain, or to ever have contained, an added vitamin, mineral nutrient, artificial flavouring agent or food additive.
• A natural food or ingredient of a food does not have any constituent or fraction thereof removed or significantly changed, except the removal of water.

Search as I may, I still cannot get a solid deferentiation of Canada Grade A, B, or C orange juice from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Years ago I tried Canada Grade C orange juice and it was less tasty than Canada Grade A. Still, I rarely see Canada Grade C OJ available anyway. Canada Grade A is all we can get. I have emailed the CFIA (cfiamaster at inspection.gc.ca) for an answer and will post it if and when they reply.

It is the foods we eat on a daily basis that have the most effect on your health, both good and ill. By paying attention to food staples that border on boring that we can reduce the risks and increase utility of the foods we eat.

Addendum May 31 2012: Lawsuits slam Tropicana orange juice’s ‘all natural’ claims