FDA's Useless Consumer Complaint System

Complaint About Swollen Orange Juice Cartons Brushed Aside

"If you still wish to have one of your containers analyzed you may contact a private laboratory."

– Sheila van Twuyver, FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator

Orange juice is a typical part of our breakfast. My husband and I like the taste and the convenience of pasteurized, pulpy, "not from concentrate" juice, and usually stock up on several cartons at a time. We're careful to rotate our stock, using up the oldest date codes first.

On Saturday, December 19th, we reached into our refrigerator for a fresh 64-ounce carton of Florida's Natural "Growers Style" Orange Juice, a product of Citrus World, Inc. To our dismay, we discovered that the first carton we grabbed was bulged. So was the second. Both of these showed a "Best if used by" date of Dec 25 09.

We had fresh grapefruit instead.

On Monday, December 21st, we decided to open a carton of juice that sported a Jan 28 10 expiry date. To our dismay, we discovered that the two Jan 28 10 cartons in our refrigerator were also showing signs of bulging.

How badly bulged were the Dec 25 09 cartons? Check this out.

And this

What does a consumer do with a rogue's gallery of swollen orange juice cartons?

We called the supermarket where we had purchased some of the juice. The store manager simply replied, "Bring back the cartons for a refund."

Next, we telephoned and sent an email message to Florida's Natural on December 19th and contacted them again by email on December 21st. Here is their reply:

"We appreciate your visit to our Florida's Natural Brand web site, notifying us of the issue you had with our Grower's Style Orange Juice. We have forwarded the date code information you provided to our Quality Assurance Department for investigation.

We will follow up with our findings, by letter, with replacement coupons included. We appreciate your purchases of our Florida's Natural Brand products and apologize for the incident."

And, of course, we put in a call to the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator for Vermont.

After several telephone conversations and exchanges of email messages, we received the following reply from FDA by email this morning:

Thank you again for contacting us about the bulging containers of Florida’s Natural orange juice that may be a potential threat to the health of consumers, such as yourself.

I spoke with the manufacturing facility and they advised that the containers be disposed of immediately. They may not have been held at a proper temperature somewhere between the time they were produced to the time they made it to your refrigerator. The containers never leave the facility bulging in this way. Also, there are currently no other reported illnesses or complaints related to the orange juice.

We advise you to throw away your containers and we will not need to collect them for analysis.

FDA will follow-up with Price Chopper and Hannaford Distribution Centers as well as your local Public Health Authorities in VT.

We will also be following up with the Manufacturing facility in Florida.

If you still wish to have one of your containers analyzed you may contact a private laboratory.

Thank you for your time,

Sheila van Twuyver

Sheila van Twuyver

Consumer Complaint Coordinator

New England District Office

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

The two batches of defective juice were purchased from two different supermarket chains, on two separate shopping trips, one month apart. We always use coolers with freezer packs to keep perishables cold in warm weather – and these cartons of juice were purchased during the autumn, during cooler weather. Is the manufacturer suggesting that both Hannaford and Price Chopper routinely mishandle the orange juice? Or that the juice is shipped from Florida to supermarket distribution centers in trucks that are not refrigerated? This makes no sense to me!

As a food safety microbiologist, I know that the most likely cause of these bulged containers is a yeast contamination. The probable source of the yeast is the filling line. What worries me – and what should worry both FDA and the manufacturer – is that these two bulging batches of orange juice were pasteurized and packed more than one month apart.

What does this say about the effectiveness of the processor's sanitation program?

What if there is more than one contaminant in the filling line – Salmonella, or perhaps E. coli O157:H7?

What if the problem is improper pasteurization?

FDA should have analyzed the contents of the bulged cartons to determine whether or not the product presented a health risk. The agency ought to know by now that relying on a manufacturer's assurances that there have been no complaints is not always a recipe for safety.

Readers of this blog have commented in the past about the lack of response from FDA's complaint coordinators – especially when reporting pet food issues to the agency. It's clear that this lack of response extends to human food.

When I worked for Canada's Health Protection Branch in the 1970s, we investigated every single consumer complaint. We knew from experience that some of these complaints were early warnings of significant food, cosmetic or pharmaceutical safety issues.

The Obama Administration has been promising "transparency" in government. Well, it's transparent to this consumer that FDA's Consumer Complaint Coordinator system is a farce!

Anyone for a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice?