Orange juice is one of the few processed foods from which consumers expect the flavour of fresh, Hamilton explains, unlike canned tomatoes where a fresh taste isn’t desirable. Duplicating the complex flavour of fresh oranges has become “the holy grail of flavour people,” she writes. A brand’s “flavour pack” can make or break it. Minute Maid, for instance, is known in the industry for its “candy-like” flavour pack. But processed orange flavour has also desensitized taste buds to the real thing, Hamilton argues: “We tend not to want or even appreciate fresh.”
Squeezed doesn’t condemn processed orange juice per se. Rather, Hamilton assails the marketing that propagates the myth that it is fresh. She cites a current campaign that uses “squeezed from fresh oranges” as a catchphrase. “It’s not the same as ‘freshly squeezed’ but it sure sounds like it,” she says. “So the harried mother or father rushing through the supermarket might easily be confused.” More accuracy in advertising is needed: “I’m not saying they have to show the factories; that’ll never happen. But ‘squeezed from fresh oranges’ is misleading; technically it’s true, but it’s meaningless. I would hope it’s squeezed from fresh oranges,” she says with a laugh.
Hamilton is less surprised by the emergence of the “fresh” myth than the extent to which consumers have bought into it: “How can we have a product available 365 days of the year that has a shelf life of 60 plus days that’s fresh?” she asks.
Though far more scholarly than sensational, Squeezed is nonetheless being marketed as an investigative exposé—Fast Food Nation visits the orange grove. In December, the New York Post referred to it as a “citrus shocker.” Even before publication, the industry is in damage-control mode. Tropicana spokeswoman Jamie Stein, who read an advance copy, dismisses the book as an “outdated view of the industry” that doesn’t look beyond 2004. When asked what Hamilton has overlooked, however, Stein fails to provide examples. She’s reluctant to discuss exactly what flavours are added during production but does allow: “None are artificial; we blend back oil from the orange and the peel—similar to when you use orange zest in recipes for natural orange flavours.” Karen Mathis, the director of public relations for the Florida Department of Citrus, echoes Stein’s claim that processed orange juice is safe, nutritious and available 365 days. “We want people to understand that orange juice is a very simple product and it’s produced the way it is to make it safe and nutritious,” Mathis says. “I’m not sure consumers are taking that away when they read that book.” The industry makes orange juice in a manner “similar to how you’re making it at home,” Mathis claims, before allowing most people aren’t pasteurizing the stuff in their kitchens.
Hamilton says Squeezed was never intended to be an industry takedown, noting she received generous help from the industry while researching it. Rather, she hopes it will be a consumers’ call to arms. “People need to know not only what’s in processed food but also how it’s produced, even for a product as seemingly safe and benign as orange juice,” she says.
Already, Squeezed has forced people close to her to look at their glass of orange juice in a new way, she says. Her father has started squeezing his own. Friends have told her they’ll never drink it again because of the “flavour packs.” Hamilton shakes her head. “I tell them, ‘Look around. It’s not just orange juice. It’s everything.’ ”
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