Prices for Brazilian Fresh Oranges Keep Dropping

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Some of you have a nice long weekend, yet the news keeps coming.

It feels like we’re going to see a long stream of “functional” news in the coming year and that is - for sure - a positive thing. I also foresee that it will have a ripple effect: With more functional beverages and food in general, we will see a need for more subtitles: what are these functional components, where do they come from, how are they extracted or manufactured, in accordance with which quality standards and manufacturing guidelines?

We need to take into account that with shifting consumer behavior, comes a shift in the way how they ask questions, how they regard the brands and producers of the new stream of products.

The question to ask: Who is giving the answer? The producer or the consumer’s AI chatbot of choice?

Juice News 🧃

Safety Shot, Unilever, Celsius and Vita Coco All Ride the Functional Beverage Wave... and it Pays Off

Millennials and Gen Z are driving a generational shift in what we drink, as they're choosing gut health, brain clarity, and recovery benefits over empty refreshment. They're shifting from regular sugary soft drinks to one of the hottest beverage consumer trends, dubbed functional beverages, in a market expected to reach US$339.6 billion by 2030.

European soft drinks sector rolls out tailored tool to facilitate soft drinks life cycle assessments

This LCA tool, built in collaboration with technology services company Pilario, enables soft drinks companies to measure, compare and improve the environmental performance of their products, taking into account the ingredients they source, the packaging they use and how their beverages are transported and distributed. It can also contribute to sustainability reporting, and be used to assess performance against industry standards.

F&F: Firm Unveils Academy to Boost Nigeria’s $1.2bn Beverage Industry

Finwerd Flavours and Fragrances has unveiled a beverage academy in its effort to drive more investment into Nigeria’s $1.2 billion beverage industry.

The Managing Director, Finwerd Flavours and Fragrances, West Africa, Steven Kabuito, at the unveiling of Finwerd Beverage Academy in Lagos, said Nigeria and Africa hold immense potential to lead the future of beverage innovation, reaffirming the company’s commitment to unlocking the full potential of Nigeria’s beverage sector.

A juice production plant will be built in in Bukovyna, in the western part of Ukraine

The enterprise will be able to process up to 1,500 tons of fruit raw material per day. The plant’s primary product is concentrated apple juice, as well as juices from local berries and fruit, including raspberries, cherries, sweet cherries, and plums. Raw production materials are planned to be purchased mainly from farms in the Chernivtsi and neighboring regions, which will provide additional support for agricultural producers.

SLMG Beverages (Coke Partner India) Founder S N Ladhani Passes Away at 85

New Delhi: S N Ladhani, founder of SLMG Beverages, the largest bottling partner of Coca-Cola in India, died at the age of 85 on May 2, 2025, at his residence in Bareilly, according to a company statement.

Ladhani founded SLMG Beverages, which now operates bottling plants across Ayodhya, Amethi, Agra, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh—with a new plant underway in Buxar, Bihar—making it Coca-Cola India's largest bottling partner.

Citrus News 🍊

Brazil: Orange prices continue dropping in the in natura market

Orange prices continue moving down in the domestic market in April (in natura), pressed by the higher supply of early fruits (such as hamlin and westing) and of ponkan tangerine. Moreover, the downward trend is also influenced by decreases at the industry. As for the demand, the mild weather has been limiting the consumption, reinforcing price drops.

Georgia: A Quick Note on Alternate Bearing

Alternate bearing is defined as the tendency of a tree to produce a heavy crop one year followed by a light crop the subsequent year. This phenomena is a common problem in many mandarin varieties and has made their marketing difficult in the past.

Research Worth Reading 🔬

Okra Juice driven edible coating for fruit preservation

This coating could not only extend the storage time of fresh strawberries and wounded apples through scarifying free radicals, but also keep them from microbial spoilage due to the film forming ability. Finally, in order to convenience its application in daily life, the coatings were obtained through homemade okra juice, which also present well preservation capability against fresh fruit. This okra juice driven edible coating provides a new strategy for developing food preservatives with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, simple production process, and inherent biosafety.

Decoding the mechanism of the interaction between aroma compounds in sweet oranges

In recent years, the interaction between ORs and aroma compounds has become a research hotspot. Understanding the mechanism of interactions between OR and aroma compounds is helpful for predicting and controlling the aroma release or retention behavior of receptors (Zhang et al., 2022). Molecular docking is a new approach that simulates the binding process between molecules through computer programs and can more intuitively present the process and results of the interaction between molecules and receptors (Mohammadzadeh-Aghdash et al., 2019).