Traces of fungicide found in orange juice

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Food and Drug Adminstration has stepped up inspections after trace amounts of fungicide were found in orange juice concentrate imported from Brazil.

Traces of the fungicide Carbendazim were found in orange juice concentrate shipped from Brazil.

ABC News medical editor Dr. Richard Besser told Action News the fungicide levels were too low to cause public health concerns.

Dr. Besser says the fungicide posed a risk in animal studies but has never been shown to be harmful to humans. He adds if you are sensitive to particular chemicals you can always check product labels to see if your juice was made with US-grown oranges.

"Thankfully the public health risk from this small, if any," he said.

A quarter of the orange juice concentrate used by us companies is imported.

Ted Batkin of the Citrus Research Board doesn't expect the discovery to impact the Valley citrus industry.

"For the California industry it's not a concern at all. Our products are grown specifically for fresh market," Batkin said.

Just 10-15 percent of the local orange crop winds up being sold for juice.

Batkin says the FDA is testing more orange juice concentrate from Brazil to see if this is a widespread problem.

"It's highly unlikely at this time that there will be any recall of juice unless the testing finds they are approaching dangerous levels," he said.

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