Long and full format this Monday. Working on some changes in realtime, which leads to a question:

By now, shrinkflation is a part of the American vocabulary as manufactures shrink items to keep price hikes down.

Prices of orange juice are soaring, with the USDA saying the average supermarket jug is now $4.28 - double its price in April 2020.

Now, a new report in ConsumerWorld says Tropicana is holding the line on another price hike, by shrinking its container, again.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the recall a more urgent classification Friday after making its original announcement Aug. 15. The new classification said the affected product may temporarily cause adverse health consequences but is unlikely to cause serious or irreversible medical issues.

“In food, comp sales growth in the low single digits was led by seasonal moments, with hundreds of new items across snacking, grilling and entertaining,” Gomez said in the second-quarter call. “With exclusive-to-Target items like Bubly’s Melted Ice Pop flavor (sparkling water), which quickly grew to be the highest-selling item in its category, we help guests celebrate summer with fun, new flavors and items.

“We’ve also pushed ourselves to rethink assortment strategies that have been tried and true for years. For example, we transitioned our candy aisles, leading into some of the most popular trends like better-for-you options, including lower-sugar treats and wellness candies. While this category is already growing, these changes raise the bar, accelerating comp growth into the double digits.”

[Interesting read, especially in correlation with upcoming writings about sugar-reduction. Stay alert! ^JvI]
Due to the nature of the sector, research into sweetener use is ongoing, meaning they are all frequently evaluated.

Some major safety milestones in sweeteners’ use include a 2016 study on the carcinogenic potential of sucralose (E955) in mice; the publication of the EFSA’s protocol for assessing exposure to sweeteners in 2020​; and a revised protocol for hazard identification and hazard characterisation of sweeteners in 2023​.

Sweeteners are made in many ways, including extraction from plants (steviol), synthesis (saccharin) or with microorganism use such as with the production of erythritol.

[a month old and totally slipped my attention, but an interesting read to say the least ^JvI]
A British court ruled in late 2022 that a Ukrainian fruit juice magnate and his company — T.B. Fruit — stiffed Cargill for $124 million. But Cargill has yet to recover a cent.

The juice maker, Taras Barshchovskiy, has proved elusive: He claims no place of residency. And Cargill alleges that to avoid paying his debts, he fraudulently transferred corporate assets to his children in Ukraine.

Ned Hancock’s career is steeped in Florida’s citrus industry and a lineage of ranchers dating back to the state’s open cattle range days of the 1800s. All the lands operated by members of Hancock’s family trace back to a common ancestor, and both his grandparents and father ran citrus groves.

The Orange Growers Association (OGA) is a leading agricultural NGO in Ghana, committed to advancing the cultivation, promotion, and export of premium oranges. Established in 2020 with 273 members, the OGA has rapidly expanded to over 3,000 members across 12 districts and 82 rural communities. The association is dedicated to revitalizing Ghana’s citrus industry through sustainable farming practices, quality enhancement, and increased global market presence.

History in the making… continuously.

At 14 acres, Bothwell Ranch represents less than one-thousandth of what once was, before the orchards and ranches of the Valley gave way to vast tracts of housing and commercial buildings to serve residents. Citrus production amid the multimillion-dollar homes is far from viable, and the parcel of land is now owned by a developer who intends to fill most of it with houses.

Los Angeles city planning officials held a public hearing Wednesday to collect comments before deciding whether to give the owners the green light to build 21 two-story homes while preserving a third of the site on Oakdale Avenue as a publicly owned orange grove managed by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority for educational purposes.

It is necessary for citrus growers during this period to intensify psyllid management actions. Those actions include:

Correct control of the psyllid is also essential to avoid the occurrence of resistance, which leads to a population increase and, consequently, an increase in the incidence of the disease in orchards.

CRDF fully supports Silvec in the regulatory approval process, as we believe this citrus vector technology will be instrumental in reducing the devastating effects of citrus greening on Florida’s citrus industry.

Compared with alternative processing methods such as mild thermal processing and other non-thermal technologies, PEF processing consistently shows comparable results in terms of physicochemical properties, functional properties, nutritional quality and overall safety. However, future research is needed on the application of PEF technology. Issues related to microbial and enzymatic inactivation, production of intracellular compounds and other aspects need to be addressed.

New University of Florida research shows the trees grown under the individual protective covers (IPCs) also grow well for a few years after growers remove the bags.

Typically, after two to three years, growers remove the IPCs from trees. They then become exposed to the psyllid, which can transmit the deadly citrus greening disease. But this study showed the fruit continues to be healthy.

In the food industry, hesperidin and its derivatives are commercialized as dietetic supplements and have been studied as food additives and active ingredients in edible food packaging. Within the feed industry, meat and/or eggs from animals supplemented with hesperidin show higher oxidative stability and prolonged shelf life. Moreover, in the environment research, hesperidin induces plant tolerance against abiotic factors and shows biopesticide activity.

Traditional plastics pervasive environmental challenges have underscored the urgent need for sustainable alternatives. Biodegradable plastics offer a promising solution to mitigate pollution and ecological damage. This study explores the feasibility of utilizing fruit peels as a renewable source for producing biodegradable plastic. Fruit and vegetable peels, including oranges, bananas, and potatoes, were collected from household resources and local juice bars. These peels were pretreated and ground into a fine powder. Further optimization of the ingredients was conducted. Orange peel powder in combination with arrowroot starch showed potential for bioplastic production. Bioplastics showed a tensile strength of 4.16x10^ -9 N/m2 (the conventional plastic exhibits a lower value of 2.5x10^-10 N/m2). Rapid degradation of bioplastics made during this study under 35 days in soil and water, coupled with a lower carbon footprint of 2.2 g/ml, further justifies its eco-friendly and sustainable nature. Utilization of peels in the preparation of bioplastic minimizes waste, ultimately reducing plastic pollution and providing an eco-friendly solution to mitigating the impact of conventional plastic on our ecosystem.