In yet another example of why the National Food Processors Association maintains that all fruit and vegetable juices should go through pasteurization or an equivalent process, the November 4 th edition of the Journal of American Medical Association reports that 62 people from 21 states contracted Salmonella poisoning by drinking unpastuerized orange juice served at Walt Disney World. None had traveled to Florida together. Seven Disney guests were hospitalized. All the juice came from one source, and Disney now serves only pasteurized product. Consumers need to be aware that all unpastuerized juices may potentially transmit . . .
Consumers can reduce their risk for illness by drinking only pasteurized fruit and vegetable juices.
Ironically, if not amazingly, it's the FDA that has refused to require that all juices be pasteurized. Rather, they propose that warning labels of very dubious use and result be placed on containers carrying the unpastuerized juice, the culprit of these foodborne illnesses. For pastuerized juices, the kind that have produced no foodborne illnesses , FDA proposes applying another, new, and onerous level of bureaucracy on the operations of these processors, in effect punishing those causing no problems and letting the troublemakers go free. FDA has abdicated their public health responsibility by granting an exemption to citrus producers. If a company cannot eliminate dangerous pathogens in their product, the product should not be on the market.