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After Hurricanes, Florida Citrus Growers Struggle to Recover
KDP facilitates digital-first marketing and Mountain Fire causes concerns over avocados and lemons in Ventura County.
Jan van Iperen
November 14, 2024
For Professionals in the Juice and Citrus industry
I love it when an old trend and a new trend find each other and create an appealing new product: A bloody Mary mix enriched with pickle brine.
When we look beyond our comfort zone, reach out to somebody who shines in another category, the most refreshing and interesting new results can bloom.
It is totally in line with my motto: “Stay curious, look over the fence, and listen to evidence that contradicts your beliefs.”
In Today's newsletter:
🧃 Juice News
Jennifer Berndt, marketing category manager for beverages at Cargill, Minneapolis, shares how BFY trends are influencing fortification in beverages.
“A key shift in the beverage marketplace is the heightened influence of health considerations on purchase behavior,” she says. “Consumers are looking for products that provide a benefit. Whether that’s supporting energy, gut health, cognition, immunity or hydration, there’s a real thirst for beverages that address specific needs.”
Keurig Dr Pepper announced the appointment of Drew Panayiotou as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), U.S. Refreshment Beverages, effective today. Panayiotou brings a modern approach to marketing and a broad range of experience to the role, having led teams at agencies and across multiple industries, including beverages, technology, health care, retail and entertainment.
While traditional energy drinks (think Red Bull and Monster) still top the consumption charts, there’s a rise in better-for-you options. In fact, these drinks saw the biggest increase in consumption between January 2023 and 2024, according to stats from Mintel.
But what makes for a ‘natural’ energy drink? With natural energy drinks on no short supply on the show floor at trade show SIAL in Paris this year, we asked the brands what ingredients they're turning to for that clean energy boost and how they're appealing to health-conscious consumers.
🍊 Citrus News
Navels are in the third week of packing and the pace of harvest is increasing each week. "Volume is higher than last year, and crop quality is much improved over last season," says Daniel Kass with The Autenrieth Company. Last season was dominated by large size fruit and this year, both Navels and Cara Cara oranges look to be smaller in size. "It is important to manage harvest properly, to prevent an oversupply of smaller size fruit." Even with smaller sizing, Kass expects production volume to be 10 to 15 percent above last season.
Kyle Story, vice president of The Story Companies, says his family’s grove has weathered several storms in the last 20 years. Each brought a unique set of problems, and Hurricane Milton was no different, as the crops suffered severe wind damage.
“That tree is going to have a 90-plus percent loss of crop and over 50 percent loss of leaf. So, for it to recover, that’s a three-to-five-year process of good weather,” Story said, pointing at his crop.
Story says the damage means the citrus season will be short. His revenue will decrease, and he’ll be forced to spend more money to salvage what’s left.
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that the respondents selected for individual examination, Argenti Lemon S.A. (Argenti Lemon), Citromax S.A.C.I (Citromax), and SA San Miguel A.G.I.C.I. y F (San Miguel), complied with the 2016 Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Lemon Juice from Argentina (2016 Agreement), for the period of review (POR) October 1, 2022, through September 31, 2023. Commerce also preliminarily determines that the 2016 Agreement met the statutory requirements under sections 734(c) and (d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) during the POR.
The overall impact of the Mountain Fire on the California lemon market is expected to be limited. While Ventura County has 17,500 acres of lemons according to the last report, statewide there are 50,000 acres. "If there is an impact, it's not likely to be a huge industry-wide disruptor. However, it's a big deal for growers who are directly impacted."
FreshFruitPortal spoke with the general manager of Procitrus, Sergio Del Castillo from Peru, to gather insights from South American citrus-producing countries.
Del Castillo noted that the situation in Spain will likely affect citrus supply in the northern hemisphere. “Peru produces from March to September, while Spain produces from September to March, so Peru cannot supply Spain during its production window. Mediterranean basin countries, such as Morocco, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt, are better positioned to do so,” he explained.
🔬 Research Worth Reading
Previous studies have reported the identification of major flavonoids in MP, however, this is the first to achieve maximum recovery of two targeted flavonoids. In particular, the innovation of this study was the optimization of co-extraction, which demonstrated the high potential of MP extract as a natural antioxidant.
Vacuole largely dictates the fruit taste and flavor, as most of the sugars and organic acids are stored in the vacuoles of the fruit. However, difficulties associated with vacuole separation severely hinder identification and characterization of vacuolar proteins in fruit species. In this study, we established an effective approach for separating vacuoles and successfully purified vacuolar protein from six types of citrus fruit with varying patterns of sugar and organic acid contents.
Investigating the influences of different sterilization methods on overall juice quality is essential for the production of high-quality juice. The effects of ultra-high temperature instantaneous sterilization (UHT), thermosonication (TS), high hydrostatic pressure sterilization (HHP), and irradiation sterilization (IS) on the physicochemical properties, functional components, and color of Aronia melanocarpa juice (AMJ) were investigated.
The approach employed provides insights into the Brazilian CLas population, providing markers for population studies and highlighting the prevalence of type 1 and 3 prophages in the population.
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