Besides the high sugar levels, I don’t frequent those funky juice bars and I don’t buy unpasteurized juice because of the risk of bacterial contamination.

I haven’t seen frozen juice in Australia, but as Sloan sings, “three cans of water provokes me.”

Hayden Slater, chief executive thingy of Fresno, CA-based Pressed Juicery, received a catchy letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which said that after numerous inspections in 2015, that the juice manufacturing facility had serious violations from the FDA’s juice Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation, Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 120 (21 CFR Part 120).

This inspection resulted in FDA’s issuance of a Form FDA-483 Inspectional Observations (FDA-483), at the conclusion of the inspection. 

Mr. Slater, your juice sucks.

1. Your HACCP plan does not include control measures that will consistently produce, at a minimum a 5-log reduction of the most pertinent microorganism(s) of public health significance that is likely to occur in the juice, for at least as long as the shelf life of the product when stored under normal and moderate abuse conditions, as required by 21 CFR 120.24(a). Your HACCP plan for “Ready to Drink Beverages, Soups (Food Drink), Freeze and Toppings,” which includes low acid 100% juices (pH > 4.6), does not have control measures for the pertinent microorganism, Clostridium botulinum. Furthermore, the validation study conducted by Food Microbiological Laboratories to validate the microbial load reduction of Salmonella spp. and E. coli O157:H7 in your juice products using the High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP) process did not take into consideration the pertinent microorganism C. botulinum for the low acid products. Additionally, FDA recommends you provide a validation study for each of the products you manufacture, to demonstrate, at a minimum, a 5-log reduction of the most pertinent microorganism(s) of concern.

FDA believes that it is necessary to address the control of hazards that could occur in low acid refrigerated juices subjected to severe temperature abuse. Further guidance on this public health issue can be found at: http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/Juice/ucm072481.htm].

2. Your HACCP plan must, at a minimum, list all food hazards that are reasonably likely to occur, to comply with 21 CFR 120.8(b)(1). A “food hazard” is defined in 21 CFR 120.3(g) as “any biological, chemical, or physical agent that is reasonably likely to cause illness or injury in the absence of its control.” However, your HACCP plan for “Ready to Drink Beverages, Soups (Food Drink), Freeze and Toppings,” which includes juice blends with apple juice, does not list the food hazard patulin. Because patulin, a mycotoxin, can occur in apple juice from rotting or molding apples and is not destroyed with thermal processing, it is reasonably likely to occur in your juice products that contain apple juice.