Label On The Tropicana Orange Juice example essay topic

Which Is the Best Was orange juice always just here? What is the difference between the different types? Why does everyone like it cold? Is it a sustainable product the way Tropicana is running their processing plant? Are there ethical issues with orange juice production? I began to wonder one day as I was looking in the store, in the orange juice aisle.

This paper is a journey into orange juice through the popular Orange juice company, Tropicana. I chose this company because this was a juice that I had grown up with. I hope to be able to answer there questions for myself and you, the reader. To start orange juice was not always here.

It came out of an advertising campaign in the 1920^aEURTMs. (1) The California Fruit Growers (now known as Sunkist) had been producing too many oranges for the current market. Their supply and demand ratio was off. They needed to find a new use for oranges besides just peeling and consuming them. There was too many oranges being wasted. Orange juice takes three to four oranges for each cup of juice.

It was an effective means to use extra oranges. (2) Through advertising, Sunkist convinced the general public they should drink at least one cup a day. It was called the^aand USDA do not routinely test pesticides that are out on the market. They rely on the information that the manu factor provides. When looking at the label on the Tropicana Orange juice, it does not list as an organic juice. There are some orange juice vendors that a consumer could turn to, that do not deal with the pesticide issue if this bothers you.

A consumer could turn to organically labeled orange juice such as from Lakewood Farms. (18) If you can not find this brand, just look fir the organic stamp on the label... If the wastewater issue bothers you there are alternatives, Original juice Company (19) is attempting to reduce the amount of wastewater they produce by recycling the organic byproducts, the citrus oil and the sugar into useful products. They are citrus cleaning products and molasses. By the fact Tropicana got fined for their illegal dumping of waste water into the Manatee River, they might want to look towards Original Juice Company. Foreign competition is no threat in the supply of oranges to Tropicana.

If you remember Tropicana insists on Florida grown oranges for their juice. The problem is in the way they are picked, that is a threat. (20) Most of the groves in Florida have hand pickers because of the trees and the way they are placed in the grove. Mechanical pickers which dominate many foreign markets, are more efficient replacing workers on a ratio of production of ten workers. To be with the foreign production rate Florida groves are going to be forced to eventually switch to mechanical pickers. Mechanical picking is coming and there are no sustainable alternatives to this issue.

There are many problems that have to be worked out first before the conversion to mechanical picking can take place... Fruit gets too big after the beginning of May, for the mechanical pickers to be able to shake it off the tree, without causing damage to the limbs. The growers are trying to develop a spray that would make the fruit fall easier without the damage. The way in which the trees are pruned will have to be changed. The groves will need to accommodate the arms of the mechanical pickers as they are embracing the tree, to prevent damage to the tree. The frustrating thing is that there is a lot that has to be done to prepare for the mechanical pickers, besides just investing in the actual pickers.

The cost as a result is impossible to determine because the preparation is still being worked on. Tropicana because they do not own their own groves is going to have to just pay whatever price the groves charge them, once the transition happens when they be the grove^aEURTMs oranges... An ethical issue I found was with the pickers in the groves. (21) They are often take advantage of because they cannot fight back. Most of the pickers are illegal and from other countries that do not speak English.

The workers are dependent on the groves for work, because it is difficult to get hired anywhere else. They cannot speak our language or they are afraid of being deported. They are limited in being able to complain about mistreatment because of fear of retaliation from the grove owner. The only violation I could find was with three groves that Tropicana contracts with in 2002. (22) It involved enslavement of workers. The Citrus Growers involved got ^aEURoelengthy prison terms. ^a EUR.