Is CRISPR paving the path to Florida's Citrus recovery?

Instead of the next "Labubu” doll, it may be a good idea to have the next gen play with some real action heroes…

Juice News 🧃

Tropicana adds smaller serve cartons to its number one orange juice range in UK

Voted the number one orange juice vs other leading brands in the UK, Tropicana original orange juice is now available, in two varieties – with pulp and without pulp, in a smaller portion carton for the first time. With this 500 ml beverage carton, Tropicana offers more options for consumers to experience its ‘as fresh as from the fruit’ signature taste in an increasingly diverse market. A key trend in the UK is a progressively aging population that is creating a shift to more households with older adults and fewer children.

Avantium’s PEF to be used in juice bottles

Avantium N.V., a Netherlands-based renewable and circular polymer materials company, has signed a conditional offtake agreement with Hoogesteger, a producer of cold-pressed juices also based in the Netherlands. Hoogesteger will purchase the 100 percent plant-based, recyclable polymer polyethylene furanoate (PEF) from Avantium’s furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) flagship plant for the use in bottles for its juices made from vegetables, fruit and fresh herbs.

Pineapple juice pricing helps balance supply and demand for Costa Rican fruit

Year-to-date volume on pineapples from Costa Rica is only now catching up to 2024 after trailing significantly all year. Along with the demand for fresh pineapples, the juice industry in Costa Rica continues to demand significant volume and pay good prices which has helped balance supply and demand, particularly now that pineapples compete with seasonal fruits.

CODEX ALIMENTARIUS: Main Outcome of the 44th Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS44)

CCMAS44 endorsed methods of analysis from commodity standards and recommended ap­proval of others e.g., on chocolate, chocolate prod­ucts and other cocoa-based products, fruits juices and nectars, fish products, follow-up formulas, food grade salt. CCMAS44 held intense discussions on methods of analysis for the protein content in quinoa and on the method for the determination of the moisture content in whey powder. CCMAS44 agreed also to establish an expert group under the auspice of the IFU to inform the work on the methods pro­posed for fruit juices and nectars. CCMAS44 finally agreed on rounded numeric performance criteria for the determination of nitrate and nitrite ions in food matrices. CCMAS44 decided also to start working on methods for the identity of “sugars and honey”. It also endorsed the method discussed during the last CCNFSDU44 meeting on dietary fiber with a further question back to CCNFSDU with a proposed amend­ment to a more comprehensive footnote.

Hojalicious to Showcase Beverage Innovation – Including New Canned Energy Popping Boba Drink – at the 2025 Summer Fancy Food Show in NYC

Making its official debut at 2025 Summer Fancy Food Show, Hojalicious will unveil its ready-to-drink (RTD) Energy Popping Boba Juice – a first-of-its-kind beverage that fuses fruit juice, chewy energy-infused popping boba, and no-mix convenience in a sleek, shelf-stable can. Available in Blackcurrant and Orange flavors Designed for wholesale, retail, and functional beverage channels Delivers a refreshingly playful drinking experience — no straw or shaker needed This innovation embodies Hojalicious’s commitment to combining flavor, function, and fun, making it ideal for Gen Z drinkers and foodservice operators alike.

Cannabis-Infused Beverages Bubble Up in Popularity

Drinks infused with hemp-derived cannabinoids are exploding in unregulated channels. As consumers grow more comfortable with THC beverages in convenience stores and online, the surge in popularity is expected to create ripple effects across the regulated legal market.

Botrista blends tech and flavor in new beverage line

Founded by a former Tesla engineer, Botrista offers precision-crafted drinks like strawberry yuzu lemonade, boba teas and customizable shakes — aiming to elevate cold beverage programs with high-quality, Instagram-worthy options.

Citrus News 🍊

Can CRISPR Solve Citrus Farming’s Greatest Challenge to Date?

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) has become a leading technology in genetic research, offering precise, targeted approaches to modifying DNA. While its applications began in human therapeutics, CRISPR is now steering fresh new advancements in agriculture, particularly in combating Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening, a disease that continues to devastate the global citrus industry.

Since 2013, scientists at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences have explored CRISPR’s promise in editing plant cells. According to Dr. Nian Wang, a researcher at the university, CRISPR acts like a “molecular scissor.” For HLB, it removes sections of DNA in citrus plants that make them susceptible to the disease, thereby enhancing their resistance or tolerance to infection.

Research Worth Reading 🔬

Ideelab: biotechnology for controlling citrus disease

The technologies developed by Ideelab offer a sustainable alternative to traditional chemical pesticides. “It’s a product with a much lower carbon footprint, non-polluting and non-toxic to the environment,” he says. Thus, the benefits extend throughout the chain: producers can control diseases more efficiently and sustainably, the industry can obtain higher-quality products, and consumers can receive food with fewer chemical residues.

Development of a new calibration method for study and elimination of interference effects on the example of determining ascorbic acid in juices by chromatographic technique

• A new calibration method in chromatographic determination of ascorbic acid was developed

• Dilution method, integrated calibration method, and H-point standard addition method were combined into a single procedure

• Comparison of analytical result estimations allows for extended interpretation of the data

• The accuracies and precisions of the obtained results were evaluated after the elimination of interferences.

Pomegranate residues as fermentation feedstock for bioethanol production: Process design and characterization

• The biotechnological valorization of pomegranate residues (PRs) was assessed

• Extracts/hydrolysates from PRs were produced and chemically characterized

• Mixture of extracts from PRs and seeded raisins was used as fermentation substrate

• Fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae was described via model fitting

• The developed bioprocess resulted in satisfactorily high bioethanol production.