The Orange Book

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The Orange Book

Publisher

Tetra Pak Processing Systems AB SE-221 86 Lund, Sweden. www.tetrapak.com

ISBN 91-3428-4

Further copies of The Orange Book can be obtained from your local Tetra Pak company.

Editor Ulla Ringblom Production

Pyramid Communication AB Printer: Ruter Press

Printed in 2004 ©_Copyright

No part of The Orange Book may be duplicated in any form without the source being indicated (Tetra Pak). To the best of our knowledge the information presented in this book is correct. Nevertheless, Tetra Pak disclaims all responsibility for any detrimental effects resulting from the way in which the information is used.

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Sharing an experience

Because of its refreshing taste and whole-some nature, orange juice dominates the fruit juice market. It is unique among juices in that the consumer can easily compare its sensory properties with those of the fresh fruit or juice squeezed directly from fresh oranges.

This puts high demands on orange juice producers to deliver the same level of quality, or as near as possible, as that consumers expect from fresh fruit. The challenge is particularly tough because orange juice is a complex bever-age sensitive to the way it is treated.

Over the years, Tetra Pak has been closely involved with orange juice products. We be-lieve that some of this experience could also be of interest to our customers. As a supplier of both processing equipment and packaging systems, Tetra Pak has hands-on competence with all steps in the production chain, from the fruit tree to the distribution of packaged orange juice. This is what we would like to share with you in the form of this book.

A journey with juice

The Orange Book follows the complete jour-ney of orange juice. It begins with the various types of orange fruit, proceeds through all the processing and packaging steps, and ends with the distribution of the end product to consumers. Along the way there is a chance to look at market information, juice quality and cate-gories, the trading and shipping of products, and industry standards and regulations. Con-sideration is given throughout to the factors that influence end-product quality, including the role of flavour and product blending.

A mine of information

From bulk concentrate and onwards, much of what is described in The Orange Book is also valid for orange nectars and other types of fruit juices. However, the production requirements for pure orange juice are usually more stringent in order to satisfy consumer expectations for this product.

This book focuses solely on orange juice, but Tetra Pak also has extensive know-how in the processing and packaging of many other types of fruit juices.

A number of tools help you extract infor-mation readily from this book. A glossary explains familiar expressions used in the citrus industry, and a list of literature is given for fur-ther reading. Metric units are used throughout this book except when other specific units are commonly used. A list of conversion factors al-lows you to convert between different units. We hope you will find The Orange Book useful in providing consumers with the most enjoyable fruit juice provided by nature.

Second edition

The first edition of The Orange Book was well received in 1997, and as it went out of print it is followed by this revised edition.

Valuable comments have been received on the book from many sources in the citrus indus-try. Tetra Pak would particularly like to thank the following persons for their review of rel-evant sections in the book and suggestions on how to improve it: Professor Robert Braddock of the University of Florida, Antonio Carlos Gonçalves of Louis Dreyfus Citrus, Dr. Bar-rie Preston of Döhler-Eurocitrus, and Martin Greeve, Chairman of the AIJN Code of Prac-tice Expert Group.

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1

The orange fruit

and its products

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1. The orange fruit

and its products

Summary

The orange plant originated in Southeast

Asia and spread gradually to other parts

of the world. Today, orange juice products

de rive from four main groups of or ange.

About 65 million tonnes of oranges per

annum are produced globally. Of this,

around 40 % is proc essed into juice and

the rest con sumed as whole fruit.

Single-strength or

concentrated

As juice is produced on a seasonal basis, it

must be stored between seasons to en sure

a year-round supply to consumer markets.

Most juice is produced as frozen con

cen-trat ed or ange juice, FCOJ, be cause it can

be stored for long periods of time and

shipped at lower cost as it con tains less

wa ter. “Not-from-concentrate” juice, NFC,

which is at sin gle strength, requires much

larger vol umes during stor age and shipping.

Most NFC pro duced is intended for near by

markets but its export is increasing.

A look inside

Basically, an orange consists of juice

i cles surrounded by a waxy skin, the peel.

The peel com pris es a thin, coloured outer

layer called the ﬂ a ve do and a thick er, ﬁ

brous inner layer called the albedo. The

endocarp, the edible portion of the fruit,

cludes a central ﬁ brous core and in di vid u al

segments con tain ing the juice sacs. In large

process ing plants the com plete fruit is

uti-lised. By-products are pro duced to help

maximise proﬁ ts and min i mise waste.

Major players

The two most important

orange-proces-sing re gions are Bra zil and the state of

Flor i da in the US. Together these re gions

account for near ly 90 % of global orange

juice pro duc tion.

1.1 The fruit’s origin and

important varieties

The orange is the world’s most pop u lar fruit. Like all citrus plants, the orange tree originated in the trop i cal regions of Asia. Oranges are men tioned in an old Chinese man u script dating back to 2200 BC. The de vel op ment of the Arab trade routes, the spread of Is lam and the ex pan sion of the Roman empire led to the fruit being cultivated in other regions.

From its original habitat, the or ange spread to In dia, the east coast of Africa, and from there to the east ern Mediterranean region. By the time Colum-bus and his fol low ers took plants to the Americas, or ange trees were com mon in the west ern

Mediter-Fig. 1.1 World citrus fruit production by types 2001/02.

Source: FAO Tangerines 17 % Oranges 66 % Grapefruits 6 % Lemons / Limes 11 %

Oranges account for more than two thirds of the world production of all citrus fruits, of which oth er important species are the lemon, grape fruit

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1.2 A global overview South Africa Argentina Brazil Morocco Caribbean Florida Spain Italy China Australia California Mexico Central America Japan Greece Turkey Israel Egypt

Fig. 1.2 The major orange-growing regions.

ripens at a similar time, which allows efﬁ cient harvesting and operation of processing plants. However, it also means that trees of the same variety in a grove are susceptible to the same dis-eases and physiological disorders. As required in different regions, bud wood may be grafted on to rootstocks known to be resistant to certain diseases or drought.

During their ﬁ rst few years of growth orange trees do not bear fruit, but when they do, the yield per tree increases gradually until the trees reach maturity at about 10 years old.

1.2 A global overview

Oranges are cultivated in tropical and sub tropi cal re gions around the world. The trees can grow in a wide range of soil conditions, from ex treme ly sandy soils to rather heavy clay loams, although they grow best in intermediate types of soil.

Local growing conditions, such as climate, type of soil and grove practices, have a large in ﬂ u ence on the quality of fruit produced and on the extracted juice. An orange variety, for ex am ple Four groups of fruit are of com mer cial signiﬁ cance

in the production of or ange juice products: • The sweet orange, also known as the China

orange, Citrus sinensis

• The sour or bitter or ange, also known as the Seville orange, Cit rus aurantium

• The mandarin orange and tan ge rine varieties, Citrus reticulata

• Hybrid oranges (tangors) which result from var i ous crosses be tween tan ge rines and sweet oranges.

Of these, the sweet orange is by far the most im por tant. In several mar kets, in clud ing Europe, only juice made from sweet orange va ri e ties, Cit rus sinensis, may be labelled as orange juice. To be cor rect from a horticultural view point, the

common name for the spe cies Citrus reticulata is mandarin, some va ri e ties of which are called tangerines. However, the word tan ge rine is often used as the common species name.

Most citrus plants are propagated vegetatively by bud wood cuttings (scions – the top part that controls the type of fruit) grafted on to a

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differ-Approximately 65 million tonnes of oranges are produced per year worldwide. About 40 % of the total tonnage is processed, the rest being con-sumed as fresh fruit. Whenever possible, growers prefer to sell oranges to the fresh fruit market as their price is normally higher than for fruit sold for processing into juice. In some countries this can lead to a signiﬁ cant variation in the amount of fruit processed from one year to another.

Florida and Brazil are the world’s largest fruit producing countries. Here the majority of fruit harvested is processed because the orange varie-ties in these regions are grown for processing rather than for direct consumption.

Due to the planting of new trees, world orange production continued to increase into the early 2000’s – mainly in Florida, Brazil and China. World orange production is also expected to increase further in other regions as a result of improved planting programmes, cultivating techniques, and support given to orange grow-ers. Nevertheless, unwanted climatic effects like frost and storms, along with uncontrolled diseases of fruit trees, could reduce crops and juice yields signiﬁ cantly. Recent years have seen notable ﬂ uc-tuations in world orange production.

1.2.1 LARGE-SCALE DEVELOPMENT

Commercial cultivation of oranges intended for large-scale processing into fruit sections and juice began in Florida in the 1920’s. In the late 1940’s, frozen concentrated orange juice for home dilution was developed in the USA. This led to a rapid growth in orange juice consumption. As a result, the cultivation and processing capacity of oranges in Florida grew rapidly.

However, severe frosts in Florida drastically reduced fruit yields and killed many trees during the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. To secure the supply of orange juice for the US market, trees were planted and large processing plants were built for orange concentrate in Brazil. The ﬁ rst concentrate plant was built in Brazil in the early 1960’s and the large expansion in production capacity took place dur-ing the 70’s and 80’s. Orange processdur-ing in Brazil was established by US companies.

In 1983 Brazil surpassed Florida as the world’s number one orange producer. However, new trees that were planted further south in Florida in areas less affected by frost are now bearing fruit. This has boosted Florida’s orange produc-tion signiﬁ cantly and in years with good yields the state meets most of the US demand for juice. Figure 1.3 shows the estimated world citrus fruit production and processing for the 2001-02 season (mid-01 to mid-02).

China has the fastest growth in citrus fruit production as a result of the intensive planting of new trees. So far, most oranges in China are consumed fresh, with only a small amount of fruit being processed. The Mediterranean is an important region for growing high-quality fruit. As more and more Mediterranean oranges are being eaten fresh, juice production is gradually declining in this region.

1.2.2 ORANGE CROP DISEASES

Like any other fruit, orange trees are susceptible to diseases. These may affect the leaves or fruit and even kill the trees. Because diseases have a large economical impact on the citrus industry, many orange-growing regions allocate large funds for research on citrus diseases, and develop more resistant fruit cultivars and cultivation methods to limit their effects.

Fig. 1.3 World citrus fruit production and processing, 2001/02.

Source: FAO

Million tonnes

Citrus fruit Oranges Oranges for processing 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Others USA Brazil 1.2 A global overview

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1.3 Bridging the seasons

Oranges can only ripen on the tree and the qual-ity of the fruit begins to deteriorate immediately after picking. Therefore, the time between pick-ing fruit and processpick-ing it into juice and other products should ideally be as short as possible – less than 24 hours – although longer periods

are not uncommon.

Because the orange is a seasonal fruit, each re-gion strives to grow orange varieties with different ripening periods (see Figure 1.4). This prolongs the total harvesting period in a region and allows greater utilisation of processing equipment.

To provide a year-round supply to consumers, juice must be stored to bridge the gap between seasons. Most of the juice is stored frozen as con-centrate. This is called Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice, or just FCOJ as it is referred to within the industry. For the same amount of ready-to-drink (RTD) juice, concentrate requires 5–6 times less volume for storage and shipping than single-strength juice. Thus shipping costs over long dis-tances are signiﬁ cantly higher for single-strength products like not-from-concentrate juice (NFC). The characteristics of a disease will determine

the appropriate response to control it. Control methods include the eradication of infected trees, chemical suppression of disease-transmitting in-sects and using resistant rootstock for grafting. New trees should come from controlled nurseries where seedlings are protected from airborne or soil contamination.

The inspection of groves and follow-up of measures taken are important for successful con-trol of a disease. Large eradication programmes may require special funding. In the 1940’s almost all orange trees in Brazil were destroyed following an outbreak of CTV (Citrus Tristeza Virus). New plantings were made using a different rootstock (Rangpur Lime) resistant to this virus.

Among the serious citrus diseases found today is Citrus Canker, caused by Xanthomonas bacte-ria, that results in premature leaf and fruit drop. There is no treatment but the disease is limited

by removing all trees within a 60 m radius of in-fected trees. CVC (Citrus Cholorosis Variegated), caused by a bacterial pathogen transmitted by the sharpshooter insect, leads to spotted leaves and small fruit. The fungal disease Citrus Black Spot causes lesions on the fruit skin, which make fruit unsuitable for consumption although it can still be processed.

In 1999, a new disease was discovered in Bra-zil called Citrus Sudden Death (CSD) because it caused the rapid decline and death of trees with fruit and leaves still on them. It is caused by an insect-transmitted virus (similar to Tristeza) and in just a few years it has spread to important citrus areas of São Paulo State.

Certain rootstocks are resistant to the Sudden Death virus. Now there is intensive replanting using resistant trees as well as in-arching, where resistant seedlings are planted next to an existing exposed tree and a by-pass is grafted onto it above the bud union. However, since these alternative rootstocks are less resistant to drought, they may require more irrigation or be used to plant groves in areas having a wetter climate.

1.3 Bridging the seasons

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Juices from early and late fruit varieties differ in quality as regards colour, sugar content, etc. To deliver products of speciﬁ ed and consistent

quality throughout the year, concentrate suppli-ers blend concentrates produced from different orange varieties. Most NFC products also consist of a blend of juices extracted at different times of the season. Blending of NFC may take place within the producing country or in the import-ing market. The difference in quality and yield between different orange varieties is reﬂ ected in the range of market prices.

1.4 Fruit selection

In Brazil, the typical processing season is from June to February. In Florida, oranges are usually processed from late October to early June. Good quality fruit is harvested for the greater part of the season. In the Mediterranean, the period yielding fruit of quality suitable for processing is shorter than in Florida and Brazil.

NFC is essentially juice as it is extracted direct-ly from the fruit. Regulations and the production process allow for very limited, if any, adjustments to product characteristics other than blending NFC from different varieties. Therefore careful selec-tion of the fruit is necessary for NFC producselec-tion. In concentrate production it is possible to ad-just certain quality parameters. Careful control of the evaporation step, essence recovery and the possibility of blending concentrates that differ in character enable the processor to meet many dif-ferent product speciﬁ cations. Hence, variations in fruit properties are less critical for concentrate production.

In plants where NFC is produced, concentrate should also be produced to make use of the “non-optimal” fruit. In most regions, fruit best suited to NFC production is available for only part of the season. The proportion of NFC and concentrate produced in a certain region will depend on the availability of suitable fruit.

At present, NFC production makes up a low percentage (<10 %) of the total juice produc-tion in most orange-growing regions except for Florida, where the share of NFC production can reach 45 %.

With oranges grown to be eaten fresh, a cer-tain amount of fruit is rejected because of poor appearance (up to 20 %). The rejected fruit is used for processing into juice. This is why juice processing facilities are also found in regions which specialise in producing oranges intended for the fresh fruit market.

1.5 Inside an orange

Essentially, an orange is a ball of juice sacs protected by a waxy skin, the peel. The peel consists of a thin outer layer called the fl avedo and a thicker, fi brous inner layer called the albedo. Orange-coloured substances called carotenoids in the fl avedo give the fruit its characteristic colour. Vesicles (a small sac or cavity) containing peel oil

also present in the fl avedo contribute to the fruit’s fresh aroma. The white spongy albedo contains several substances which infl uence juice quality, often negatively, if they fi nd their way into ex-tracted juice. These substances include fl avonoids, d-limonene, limonin and pectin.

ABBREVIATIONS AND DEFINITIONS FCOJ = Frozen concentrated orange juice NFC = Not-from-concentrate juice

Single strength = The natural strength of juice and that at which it is consumed.

Single-strength equivalent (SSE) = Concen-trate and other products stated as their corre-sponding amount of single-strength juice. 1.4 Fruit selection

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1.6 Squeezing out every drop

In theory, the aim of the juice extraction process is to remove the maximum amount of juice from the fruit without including any peel. In practice, a compromise is made between the possible juice yield and the desired product quality. The maxi-mum juice yield from an orange is 40–60 % by weight depending on the fruit variety and local climate. Valuable oil from the peel is recovered during juice extraction. Volatile ﬂ avours from the juice are also recovered during juice processing. The remaining material is mainly pulp, peel, rag and seeds. Some pulp is recovered for sale as a commercial product. Soluble solids are reclaimed from the remaining pulp stream by washing with water. d-Limonene is extracted from oil in waste peel for use in the chemical and electronics industry. Other by-products such as pectin and clouding agents are sometimes recovered. Peel and other residual waste can be dewatered and dried as pellets for animal feed. Because orange waste is very biodegradable, small plants may dispose of it as landﬁ ll.

Increased cost-effi ciency is important for the orange juice industry. The development of equipment within the citrus processing industry is aimed at increasing juice yields while maintaining juice quality. It is also very important to reduce energy costs and to further refi ne by-products and fi nd new uses for them.

Fig. 1.5 The structure of an orange.

The edible portion of the fruit is known as the endocarp. It consists of a central ﬁ brous core, in-dividual segments, segments walls and an outer membrane. The segments contain juice vesicles, or juice sacs, that are held together by a waxy substance. Seeds may also be present within the segments. (See Figure 1.5.)

Apart from the juice itself, droplets of juice oil and lipid are also present in the juice vesicles. The juice contains sugars, acids, vitamins,

miner-als, pectins and coloured components along with many other components. These are discussed in more detail in subsection 2.2.

After juice is extracted, pieces of ruptured juice sacs and segment walls are recovered as pulp. When these particles are large, they are referred to as ﬂ oating pulp because they rise to the surface of the juice. Very ﬁ ne particles and suspended solids that gradually accumulate at the bottom of the juice are called sinking pulp.

1.6 Squeezing out every drop

Flavedo Albedo Seed Central core Juice vesicles Oil sacs Segment Segment wall

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1.7 Primary and secondary

products

The orange is one of nature’s gifts. The two primary products – whole fruit and juice – are enjoyed worldwide. Various secondary products, the by-products, help to maximise proﬁ ts and minimise waste. No part of the fruit is unused after the juice is extracted if fruit throughput justiﬁ es investment in equipment needed to turn pulp and peel into commercial products.

A range of products that can be obtained from oranges is summarised below, many of which are discussed in greater detail in other sections of this book. Yields of the various products de-rived from Florida Valencia oranges are shown in Figure 1.6.

Fresh fruit

After picking, fruit intended for the fresh fruit mar-ket is sent to packing stations where it is normally graded by visual inspection, washed, coated with wax and packed. The detergent used in washing may include fungicides. As traces of fungicide could ﬁ nd its way into juice, fruit from packing houses may not be processed into juice for sale to, for example, the European Union countries.

Juice

This product is produced either:

• as a single-strength (natural strength) bulk product in frozen or aseptic form (NFC); • as bulk concentrate normally frozen (FCOJ). Comminuted citrus base

A by-product made either by milling the whole fresh fruit or by mixing juice concentrate with milled peel. This product is used as an ingredient for fruit drinks. Because comminuted citrus base has a stronger ﬂ avour and provides more cloud than pure orange juice, it imparts a good orange ﬂ avour to fruit drinks of low fruit content. It was originally developed in the UK.

Pulp

This is ruptured juice sacs and segment walls recovered after the extraction process. It can be added back to juice and juice drinks to provide mouthfeel and give a natural appearance to the product. Pulp, also traded as “cells”, is usually distributed frozen but also in aseptic bag-in-box containers.

Fig. 1.6 Products derived from whole

553 kg

1000 kg

Peel, rag and seeds: 413 kg Peel oil: 3 kg Pulp: 30 kg Essence oil: 0.1 kg Essence aroma: 1.1 kg 65 °Brix concentrate: 100 kg Evaporated water: 452 kg Juice

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Pulp wash

A product reclaimed from washing the pulp stream. Pulp wash contains soluble fruit solids and is often used in fruit drink formulations as a source of sugars and fruit solids. It is also used as a clouding agent to provide body and mouthfeel because of its pectin content. If the law permits, pulp wash is sometimes added to juice in-line before concentration. Pulp wash is also referred to as water-extracted soluble orange solids, WESOS.

Peel oil (cold-pressed oil)

The oil extracted from orange peel. Some peel oil is added to concentrate after evaporation prior to long-term storage. It masks or slows down the de-velopment of a cardboard off-taste during storage. Peel oil is sometimes used by blending houses and juice packers for extra additions to concentrate. It is sold to ﬂ avour manufacturers for the production of various ﬂ avour compounds used in the bever-age, cosmetics and chemical industries. In trading, it is often referred to as CPO, cold-pressed oil, or CPPO, cold-pressed peel oil.

Essence

Essence comprises the volatile components re-covered from the evaporation process. These are separated in an aqueous phase and an oil phase. The water-soluble compounds (essence aroma) are sometimes added back to the concentrate or juice product. The oil phase (essence oil) is different from peel oil and contains more of the fruit fl avour. Essence oil is also used as add-back to concentrate. Both aroma and essence oil are raw materials used by fl avour companies for the manufacture of fl avour mixtures for the beverage and other food industries.

d-Limonene

The major component of peel oil. Industrial d-limonene is recovered as a by-product from waste peel in the feed mill. It is sold for use in the plastics industry as a raw material for the manufacture of synthetic resins and adhesives. It has also found use as a solvent, e.g. in the electronics industry.

Animal feed

Dry pellets made from the material left over from juice processing. The waste stream consists of peel, rag, unrecovered pulp and seeds. This resi-due is dewatered and dried to form concentrated fodder for cattle and sheep.

Citrus molasses

The syrup produced from the concentration of liquor pressed from the wet waste stream. It is used in producing animal feed pellets or as raw material for the production of citrus alcohol by fermentation.

Pectin

A less common by-product of fruit peel. Pectin can be extracted from the peel for use in jam, marmalade, jelly and preserve production.

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1.8 Major orange-producing regions

1.8 Major orange-producing

regions

Together, Brazil and the USA grow 50 % of the world’s oranges and produce more than 85 % of the global orange juice supply (12 billion litres/year). Regions contributing to the majority of world or-ange juice production are shown in Figure 1.7.

The export of orange juice onto the world market is dominated by Brazil. US exports are quite small as a consequence of the large domestic market for orange juice. (See Figure 1.8).

The USA has been a signiﬁ cant net importer of juice. However, as juice production in Florida increased as a result of new tree planting, US net juice imports have gradually declined to a low level, the quantities depending on the size of the Florida harvest. Thus more juice available on the world market must ﬁ nd new or existing markets. Figure 1.9 shows the orange juice production in Brazil and Florida between 1996-2003.

1.8.1 BRAZIL

During the 2002/03 season, the orange crop in Brazil was about 15 million tonnes (370 million boxes of 40.8 kg/90 lb). Almost all commercial groves and processing plants are located in the state of São Paulo, where 280 million boxes were produced. The 2002/03 harvest saw a 25 % lower fruit yield than the previous and following har-vests, following cyclic ﬂ uctuations in yield.

Fig. 1.8 World export of frozen concentrated orange juice

Fig. 1.7 World orange juice production, 2001/02.

Source: FAO

Brazil 51 %

Italy 3 % Spain 2 %

USA 36 %

The majority of Brazilian oranges goes into processing. Nevertheless, the domestic fresh fruit market, selling for home-squeezed orange juice, makes up a signiﬁ cant share of the total production resulting from the increase in per capita income. Mexico 1.7 % Cuba 1.3 % Greece 1.2 % South Africa 0.9 % Australia 1.1 % Egypt 0.4 % Others 1.7 % Year 1800 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1400 1600 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 Brazil Others Belize Costa Rica Spain USA Thousand tonnes

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1.8 Major orange-producing regions

Groves are not normally irrigated and climatic variations, including drought, can have a strong inﬂ uence on fruit yield and juice quality. Some citrus varieties (Hamlin and Valencia) have a bi-ennial cycle which leads to cyclic ﬂ uctuations in orange output. The variation in yield per tree obtained during recent harvest seasons is shown in Figure 1.10.

In Brazil, the “bloom” – the time when the tree ﬂ owers and becomes pollinated before the new crop of fruit starts to grow – does not occur at the same time for all the trees in a grove or plantation. As a consequence, trees in a grove bear fruit of differing ripeness at any given time. Since fruit in a speciﬁ c grove is gathered at one picking, the harvested crop will therefore vary in maturity. This variation in fruit ripeness forces the processor to make compromises in the juice extraction process that affect both the quality and yield of juice produced. Nevertheless, the processor can modify process conditions and use essence recovery and juice blending to compensate for variations in fruit to produce juice concentrate of consistent uniformity.

Most juice in Brazil is processed into concen-trate that is exported in large volumes. There is a small but growing production of NFC. This is

Fig. 1.9 Orange juice production in Brazil and Florida as SSE, single-strength equivalents.

Source: Florida Department of Citrus

Fig. 1.10 Average orange yield per tree in São Paulo

Sweet oranges comprise the bulk of the Brazilian crop. The most important varieties are:

Pera Rio (June to mid-July; mid-August to mid-December)

Pera Natal (September to mid-January) Valencia (mid-July to

September;mid-October to January)

Brazilian fruit tends to be smaller, less round and to have a thicker peel than oranges grown for processing in, for example, Florida. The normal processing season for Brazilian juice plants is from late June through to early February.

10,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 96/97 97/98 99/00 01/02 02/03 Million litres Brazil Florida 98/99 8,000 00/01 Crop year 2.50 2.25 2.00 1.75 1.50 01/02 Boxes/tree 97/98 99/00 96/97 98/99 00/01 02/03

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1.8.2 FLORIDA

During the 2002/03 season, the orange crop in Florida was about 8 million tonnes (200 million boxes). This was a smaller yield, 15 % lower, than average for the early 2000’s. More than 95 % of the orange crop harvested in Florida is processed into juice or juice products.

A combination of climatic conditions, tree variety and soil conditions results in fruit that has a low appeal to the fresh fruit market, but produces a very high quality of juice.

The skin is not uniform in colour and it is often quite green or yellow. The peel is fairly difﬁ cult to remove, which contributes to consumer rejec-tion. However, the round shape and thin peel of Florida oranges make them ideal for mechanical extraction systems.

The main varieties of sweet oranges are: Early season

Hamlin (October to January) Parson Brown (October to January) Mid-season

Pineapple (December to March) Late season

Valencia (February to June)

During the early part of the season the orange juice is light in colour and has a low oil content, whereas during late season the juice has a stronger colour and higher oil content. Some mandarin and hybrid fruit is also processed into juice from December to April for blending in small amounts with orange juice to obtain the desired colour and/or ﬂ avour.

Florida also produces about 40 % of the world’s grapefruit, of which 40 % is sold as fresh fruit and 60 % is processed into juices and fruit products. The Florida orange juice processing season extends from late October to late May/early June. Seasonal variations occur from year to year de-pending on the weather.

Climatic conditions in Florida are such that the bloom occurs uniformly and during a very short period of time, usually two or three weeks. The high level of grove management includes

ir-rigation and intensive pest and weed control. This combination of favourable climate and proﬁ cient grove management enables the fruit to ripen formly for efﬁ cient harvesting. Moreover, the uni-form fruit quality enables the processor to select the optimum processing conditions for the fruit harvested each day.

“

The round shape and thin

peel of Florida oranges make

them ideal for mechanical

dejuicing systems

”

There has been a shift in processing oranges away from FCOJ to NFC to meet the demand of the North American market. At present, 35–45 % of the total orange crop goes to NFC production. In years with lower orange yields, processing to NFC is favoured while FCOJ production is reduced. Most NFC juice is consumed in the US. There are relatively short distances between juice

production and consumption.

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1.9 Other regions

California

California is the second largest orange-produc-ing area in the US as regards quantity of fruit, but is the leading supplier of oranges to the fresh fruit market. The dry climate results in oranges with thick skin and good appearance that appeal to consumers. The state produced about 2 million tonnes of oranges during the 2001/02 season.

The dominant sweet orange variety in Cali-fornia is Navel, a seedless variety, followed by Valencia. Both are grown primarily for the fresh fruit market. About 20 % of the crop, which for some reason is considered unattractive to con-sumers, is used for fruit processing.

Navel orange juice has the peculiarity of de-veloping a bitter taste after processing. In small amounts, Navel juice can be used for blending with other juices or, alternatively, the bitterness can be removed in a debittering process.

Other orange-growing states in the USA are Arizona and Texas.

Mexico

During the 2000/01 season, 3.8 million tonnes of oranges were produced in Mexico. Oranges make up two thirds of citrus production, limes come second with nearly 30 % of total produc-tion and their plantaproduc-tion area is increasing. The sweet orange crop is dominated by the Valencia variety, and most of the fruit (about 85 %) goes to the fresh fruit market. The majority of groves are small, a result of Mexican land reform and regulation that limit the size of farms. In the orange-growing areas there is often a shortage of investment money and difﬁ culty in achiev-ing effective grove management. This leads to variations in crop size and fruit quality from year to year.

The production quantity of FCOJ depends on world market prices for FCOJ and raw material costs. In years with short orange supply, prices are high in the domestic fresh fruit market and so less fruit goes to processing.

Caribbean and Central America

This region includes several areas of small but increasing orange cultivation and orange juice production. Valencia is the most common vari-ety of sweet orange. Grove management is not intensive and irrigation is rare. Climatic varia-tions lead to differences in crop yield and juice quality between seasons. The main product in this region is frozen concentrate, although NFC is also produced for export markets.

The orange processing capacity has been consolidated in Belize and Costa Rica, whereas capacity has expanded in Cuba, the largest pro-ducer in the region. Cuba’s citrus production increased steadily in the 1990’s. However, in 2001 a hurricane damaged a large part of the citrus-growing area. Cuba’s orange production in the 2001/02 season was 0.4 million tonnes, of which more than half went to processing. Cuba is among the world’s most important grapefruit producers, but output was dramatically reduced by the hurricane.

Valencia oranges are harvested from Decem-ber to June. Fruit harvested from March onwards tends to be high in sugar and low in acidity, which leads to very high Brix:acid ratios (>25). This juice therefore requires blending.

Argentina

Citrus production in Argentina was about 2.3 million tonnes in 2003. Oranges made up about 30 % of the total crop, the main outlet being the fresh fruit market. However, lemon is the most important citrus crop, with Argentina being the world’s largest producer of lemons, yielding about 1 million tonnes annually.

Most lemons are grown in the northeast prov-ince of Tucuman. One third is exported as fresh fruit, whereas about two thirds are processed into lemon juice. Local consumption of lemons is small, and the main markets for lemon ex-port lie in the Northern Hemisphere. Fresh fruit export to some regions has been constrained by the required protocols and phytosanitary standards, but these demands are now being

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China

China has the highest growth in citrus fruit produc-tion, with the provinces Sichuan, Guangdong and Zheijang accounting for the largest yields. In 2001, the seasonal production was about 12 million tonnes, up 50 % in 5 years, and extensive citrus tree planting is expected to further increase harvests. Neverthe-less, compared with other large citrus-producing regions, fruit yields are relatively low because of poor cultivar availability and grove practices.

Mandarins account for more than half of citrus harvests in China, although the trend is to reduce mandarin planting in favour of sweet orange cultivars. These include Hamlin, Valencia and Chinese varieties, which make up about 30 % of the total citrus production. Most oranges are consumed fresh with very little being processed into juice; the predominant processed product is canned mandarin.

At present, the majority of oranges are har-vested during a short period. Since fruit quality deteriorates rapidly after harvesting, there is only a short fresh fruit consumption period of 3–4 months. In comparison, Brazil and Florida have typical harvesting cycles with balanced yields over 7 months. Therefore there is a strong desire in China to change to fruit varieties that result in longer consumption and processing periods.

The per capita growth in income has led to the rapidly increased demand for orange juice, especially in large cities. But until greater orange production can support effi cient processing, this demand will continue to be satisfi ed by juice im-ports over the next few years. Likewise, it will be diffi cult to meet the demand for fresh fruit by domestic production in the foreseeable future, especially as the per capita fresh citrus consump-tion is expected to increase by 50 % over the next 10 years. Fresh fruit will continue to be the main

market for domestic oranges.

When China joined the WTO in 2001 it agreed to reduce tariff rates, a measure that promotes higher imports of fresh fruit and orange juice.

Japan

Citrus fruit grown in Japan consists primarily of mandarin varieties, some of which are processed into juice. However, since the strict restrictions governing fruit juice imports into Japan were lifted at the end of the 1980’s, production of man-darin juice has decreased to a low level. Imported orange juice concentrate now meets the needs of the rapidly expanding domestic juice market.

Japan is also a large importer of fresh grape-fruit and orange grape-fruit, mainly from the US. Peri-ods of economic downturn also show in declining imports.

Australia

Sweet orange varieties in Australia are Navel and Valencia. Because of the high popularity of Navel – it is easy to peel and enjoyable to eat – and new plantings replacing old Valencia trees, it now accounts for about half of the crop and supplies the fresh fruit market. The orange production in Australia was about 0.6 million tonnes for the 2001/02 season, a high-yield year in the biennial yield cycle.

Fruit for processing, mainly Valencia, typi-cally accounts for 40 % of the total harvest. The Australian market for NFC has increased rapidly over the last few years and domestic producers are shifting from FCOJ to NFC production, which of-fers higher proﬁ tability. It is difﬁ cult for Austral-ian producers to compete at world market prices for concentrate in the domestic market. Frozen concentrate now accounts for half of the juice market, mainly imported from Brazil.

There is also a drive to increase the export of fresh fruit, primarily Navel, to Far East markets and increasingly to the US. As Australia has an alternate season to the US, it can supply the US market with high-quality fruit during the Califor-nia Navel off-season.

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Mediterranean countries

In order of crop size, the most important orange-growing countries in the Mediterranean are Spain, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Morocco, Syria, Alge-ria and Israel. About 11 million tonnes of oranges are grown in this region (2001). This represents about 20 % of world orange production, and slightly more than the current yield in Florida.

1.9 Other regions

Oranges in the Mediterranean region are primarily grown for the fresh fruit market, both domestic and for export to European countries. About 15 % of regional crops goes into processing. The Medi-terranean is also important for other citrus fruits. Mandarin production is about 4.5 million tonnes, or 30 % of world production. Lemons, about 3 mil-lion tonnes, account for 30 % of world supply.

Spain is the largest Mediterranean producer of oranges and mandarins, the most important sweet or-ange varieties being Navel and Valencia. Exports to fresh fruit markets dominate. Production of orange concentrate has been reduced drastically in Spain because production costs are not competitive with world-market concentrate prices. This is despite the fact that processors in European Union countries are entitled to a signiﬁ cant subsidy for purchasing fruit for juice production. NFC is produced for the European market from high-quality Valencia fruit but volumes are limited by fruit availability.

“

Spain is the largest

Mediterranean producer of

oranges and mandarins

”

The cultivation of seedless clementines in Spain has met with success and is much appreciated by consumers. Most fruit is exported and accounts for 50 % of world mandarin exports.

In Italy, orange concentrate production has also dropped drastically because of strong inter-national competition as regards price. However, several types of blood orange unique to Sicily are grown on the island. Juice from these oranges has created a niche market for export of both NFC and concentrate. In other cultivation areas, replace-ment of blonde oranges with more proﬁ table pink grapefruit is taking place.

Fig. 1.11 World citrus fruit production and processing except Brazil and Florida, 2001/02.

Source: FAO China 2 0 4 6 8 10 12 Million tonnes/year Production Processing Spain Mexico India Italy Iran Argentina Egypt Pakistan Turkey Japan South Africa Morocco Greece Cuba Australia Israel

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Citrus production in Israel has been declining for many years. Orange production was less than 0.2 million tonnes in 2002, similar to grapefruit production. The drop in concentrate production has caused the closure of processing plants. Uprooting of orchards is carried out because of low proﬁ tability, urbanisation and an increasing water shortage.

The main varieties of sweet oranges grown in Israel are Shamouti (early) and Valencia. (Jaffa is not a fruit variety but a trade name used for fruit and juice exported from Haifa harbour.)

The CMBI (Citrus Marketing Board of Israel), which encouraged the production and marketing of citrus for more than 65 years and actively built up the European juice market, closed in 2003.

1.9 Other regions

South Africa

South Africa has an expanding citrus industry, the main orange varieties being Valencia and Navel. Most of the orange production, some 1.3 million tonnes, is exported as fresh fruit. About 20 % goes to the domestic fresh fruit market and the same amount is processed into concentrate.

Traditionally, the main export market for or-ange fruit was Europe, but deregulation in 1997 opened up new opportunities that led to Japan and the Middle East becoming important markets.

South Africa has good potential for exporting fresh fruit to the northern hemisphere because of its alternate season. However, increased trade depends on South Africa meeting the phytosani-tary requirements and production protocols of the importing regions. Changes in the organisation of the South Africa citrus industry have taken place aimed at enabling producers to meet importers’ demands more efﬁ ciently.

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• How quality is assessed in objective and subjective ways.

• Substances and factors that are important to juice quality, such as sugars and acids, cloud, pulp, ﬂ a vour and colour components, and vitamin C.

• How the different quality parameters are meas ured.

• Orange juice categories and the terms used to describe the var i ous types of orange juice. • An introduction to regulations governing

juice qual i ty.

2

Orange juice quality

and categories

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2.1 Juice quality

2.1.1 DEFINING QUALITY

For food products, quality is subjective and what is good quality must ultimately be de ter mined by the con sum er. This is also true for or ange juice. The qual i ty of orange juice as per ceived by the

con sum er is made up of: • taste

• mouthfeel • colour

However, because orange juice is traded and sumed worldwide, its quality cannot be de ter mined sole ly by subjective assessments. To make as sess -ments more objective, several qual i ty parameters have been deﬁ ned. Some of these parameters are used to classify (grade) or ange juice, while others are used to specify the product for trading. Table 2.1 lists the important quality parameters for or ange juice.

TABLE 2.1 IMPORTANT QUALITY PARAMETERS FOR ORANGE JUICE

Sugar content (°Brix) Flavour

Acid content Oil content

Ratio of °Brix to acid Colour

Cloud Vitamin C

Pulp Defects

2. Orange juice quality

and categories

Summary

The most important compounds that in ﬂ u

-ence the qual i ty of orange juice are sug ars

and ac ids, ﬂ avour and colour com po nents,

and vi ta min C. These com pounds, plus cloud,

are an a lysed to deﬁ ne and grade juice. The

°Brix scale is used to measure sugar

con-centration, and juice acidity is measured

by titration. There are several methods for

measuring cloud and colour. Flavour is

eval u at ed us ing sub jec tive meth ods and is

thus dif ﬁ cult to de ﬁ ne and meas ure.

The deterioration of juice quality is

main

ly related to ﬂ avour deg

ra

da

tion,

nonen zy mat ic browning and nutrient loss.

Enzyme activity af fects the mouthfeel of

juice, and the for ma tion of limonin makes

juice taste bit ter.

Juice categories and

relevant terms

Many special terms are used for the two

main cat e go ries of orange juice products,

ready-to-drink orange juice and juice

cen trate. Some of these terms are re ferred to

in the reg u la tions of certain coun tries, other

terms are merely used in juice marketing

and trad ing.

Standards and regulations gov ern ing

prod

uct origin, juice processing, juice

qual i ty and prod uct labelling are im ple

-ment ed by a number of reg u la to ry bod ies

in dif fer ent trad ing blocs. There is a gen er al

de sire worldwide to harmonise the

ards in force.

All the parameters listed in Table 2.1, ex cept ﬂ vour, can be determined by standard methods of anal y sis to give meaningful and re li a ble re sults. Or ange juice ﬂ avour can only be eval u at ed by sen so ry means, usually by groups of pan el lists. These anal y sis methods have been col lect ed and

published in books by, for example, Redd et al. and Kimball.

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TABLE 2.3 REQUIREMENTS FOR USDA GRADE A ORANGE JUICE

Orange juice NFC From concentrate

Analytical factors

°Brix min. 11.0 min. 11.8

Ratio (Brix:acid) 12.5 – 20.5 12.5 – 20.5

Recoverable oil % v/v. max. 0.035 max. 0.035

Quality factors

Appearance fresh or ange juice fresh orange juice

Reconstitution —— reconstitutes properly

Colour very good, min. 36 points very good, min. 36 points

Flavour very good, min. 36 points very good, min. 36 points

Defects practically free, min. 18 points prac ti cal ly free, min. 18 points

2.1 Juice quality

TABLE 2.2 AIJN QUALITY REQUIREMENTS FOR ORANGE JUICE

Properties Direct Reconstituted

juice juice

Relative density 20/20 min. 1.040 min. 1.045

Corresponding °Brix min.10 min. 11.2

Direct juice

Properties / Reconstituted juice

L-ascorbic acid (vit. C)

at end of shelf life, mg/l min. 200

Volatile oils, ml/l max. 0.3

Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), mg/l max. 10 Volatile acid as acetic acid, g/l* max. 0.4

Ethanol, g/l max. 3.0

D/L Lactic acid, g/l max. 0.2

Arsenic and heavy metals, mg/l max 0.01–5.0 (various values)

* Indication of hygiene, not juice acidity.

Source: AIJN Code of Practice, Reference guideline for orange juice, 2003

The basic quality of orange juice is de ter mined at the fruit processor, i.e. by the quality of fruit ac cept ed at the reception area, fruit stor age times and the way juice is extracted. Sub se quent processing steps can not improve the main quality parameters of a given pro duc tion batch. This can only be achieved by blend ing a par tic u lar juice with superior quality or ange juice or con cen trate. This is commonly done.

All processing and stor age of juice on its way to the consumer should aim at maintaining the in i tial qual i ty as much as pos si ble. Equally im por tant is the qual i ty of water used to re con sti tute orange juice, as juice made from con cen trate com pris es 85 % added water.

The effects of processing on quality are main ly related to ﬂ avour degradation, while nonoptimal stor age conditions can result in juice browning, loss of vitamin C and ﬂ avour changes.

2.1.2 QUALITY SPECIFICATIONS

Guidelines for quality standards for fruit juic es for the European Union are spec i ﬁ ed in the Code of Practice for the evaluation of fruit and vegetable juices, pub lished by the AIJN (see Sec tion 11). The absolute quality requirements deﬁ ned in the

reference guideline for orange juice are given in Ta ble 2.2.

In the USA, the US Department of Ag ri cul ture, USDA, is responsible for specifying qual i ty stand ards for orange juice. To be labelled USDA Grade A, orange juice produced in Flor i da must meet the qual i ty requirements shown in Table 2.3. The quality fac tors are meas ured on a 100-point scale. If the total score is above the limit but just one of the quality fac tors does not meet the Grade A requirements, the juice still may not be labelled Grade A.

The most important properties of orange juice that are directly related to these qual i ty pa ram e ters are discussed in the following sub sec tions.

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HOW BRIX IS MEASURED Brix can be measured by either density measure-ments or by measuring the refractive index of orange juice. Both are then related to a 100 % sucrose so lu tion. The °Brix scale is based on standard meas ure ments at 20 °C. If the juice/ concentrate is analysed at any other tem per ture, a correction factor is used to equate the °Brix measurement to one made at 20 °C. To ob tain the corrected °Brix value, the acid con tent must be determined by titration in order to read the right correction value from a table. Density measurements: The buoyancy of a hy drom e ter in a liquid is directly proportional to the density of the solution. Therefore a scale on the neck of the hydrometer can be calibrated to a °Brix scale. The °Brix is read on the scale at the point where the liq uid meniscus intersects the hydrometer neck. Before measuring it is im por tant to deaerate the juice since air in the sam ple can affect the result.

Hydrometers are mostly used for single-strength juice. Although a hydrometer is an in ex pen sive in stru ment, it is not very fast and re quires up to 200 ml of sample.

For in-line Brix measurements, one com-mon method of measuring density is to feed the sample through an oscillating tube. When the liquid enters the tube, the frequency of the oscillations decrease. From this deviation the density can be calculated. Read more about in-line density measurements in subsection 7.4.8. Measurement of light refraction: Light travels at dif fer ent speeds in different media such as air, water or sugar solutions. When light passes from one medium to another it is refracted, that is, it changes direction slightly. This property of a medium can be quantiﬁ ed as its refractive dex. The refractive index of a so lu tion depends on its total soluble solids. Therefore °Brix can be determined by measuring the refraction of light.

Either analogue or digital refractometers can be used to measure °Brix. Although refractometers are more expensive than hy drom e ters, they are more fre quent ly used be cause they can measure over a large scale, 1–70 °Brix, and they constitute a fast method which requires very little sample, 2–3 ml. Mod ern refractometers can compensate for tem per a ture, but in de pend ent correction for acids is nec es sary, es pe cial ly for concentrates.

Read more about in-line refractometer meas-urements in subsection 7.4.7.

Source: Dan A. Kimball, Citrus processing: Quality control and technology, 1991.

2.2 Important properties

of orange juice

2.2.1 SUGARS AND ACIDS

The most important properties of or ange juice are its sugar content and ratio of sugar to acid con tent. This ratio indicates the balance be tween sweetness and acid i ty in the juice. When the fruit matures, this ratio increases as sugars are formed and the acid content decreases. The sug ars are main ly su crose, glu cose and fruc tose in a ra tio ap prox i mat ing to 2:1:1. The sug ar con tent of juice is nor mal ly ex pressed as °Brix. In ex tract ed juice, the con cen tra tion of sugar typ i cal ly var ies from 9 °Brix for early sea son varieties to 12 °Brix for fruit har vest ed late in the sea son (e.g. Flor i da).

The °Brix (degree Brix) scale, which was de vel oped by the sugar industry, relates the sucrose con cen tra tion of a pure sucrose solu-tion to its den si ty at 20 °C. °Brix for or ange juice not only includes the con cen tra tion of dis-solved sugars but all soluble solids. Dis dis-solved substances oth er than sug ars will inﬂ uence the result of °Brix meas ure ments. Thus, the level of acid, the second most abundant dissolved mate-rial, is of ten meas ured and a correction of the Brix value is made.

For single-strength orange juice, acid rec tion is small and the term °Brix is com mon ly used with out correction to mean only the sug ar content. How ev er, in measuring °Brix of or ange juice con cen trate, the acid cor rec tion is im por tant due to the much higher acid con tent of concen-trate. Here, the term “°Brix, cor rect ed” is used.

°Brix = % soluble solids (w/w)

°Brix, corrected = % sugar (w/w)

In the laboratory, the °Brix of orange juice is analysed by meas ur ing the juice density with a hydrometer or by meas ur ing the refractive index of juice us ing a laboratory or hand refractometer. Two basic in stru ments used for Brix anal y sis are

shown in Figure 2.1. Read more about in-line measurements in subsection 7.4.

The Orange Book

The Orange Book

Sharing an experience

A journey with juice

A mine of information

Second edition

Contents

1

The orange fruit

and its products

1. The orange fruit

and its products

Summary

The orange plant originated in Southeast

Asia and spread gradually to other parts

of the world. Today, orange juice products

de rive from four main groups of or ange.

About 65 million tonnes of oranges per

annum are produced globally. Of this,

around 40 % is proc essed into juice and

the rest con sumed as whole fruit.

Single-strength or

concentrated

As juice is produced on a seasonal basis, it

must be stored between seasons to en sure

a year-round supply to consumer markets.

Most juice is produced as frozen con

cen-trat ed or ange juice, FCOJ, be cause it can

be stored for long periods of time and

shipped at lower cost as it con tains less

wa ter. “Not-from-concentrate” juice, NFC,

which is at sin gle strength, requires much

larger vol umes during stor age and shipping.

Most NFC pro duced is intended for near by

markets but its export is increasing.

A look inside

Basically, an orange consists of juice

i cles surrounded by a waxy skin, the peel.

The peel com pris es a thin, coloured outer

layer called the ﬂ a ve do and a thick er, ﬁ

brous inner layer called the albedo. The

endocarp, the edible portion of the fruit,

cludes a central ﬁ brous core and in di vid u al

segments con tain ing the juice sacs. In large

process ing plants the com plete fruit is

uti-lised. By-products are pro duced to help

maximise proﬁ ts and min i mise waste.

Major players

The two most important

orange-proces-sing re gions are Bra zil and the state of

Flor i da in the US. Together these re gions

account for near ly 90 % of global orange

juice pro duc tion.

1.1 The fruit’s origin and

important varieties

1.2 A global overview

1.3 Bridging the seasons

1.4 Fruit selection

1.5 Inside an orange

1.6 Squeezing out every drop

1.7 Primary and secondary

products

553 kg

1000 kg

1.8 Major orange-producing

regions

“

The round shape and thin

peel of Florida oranges make

them ideal for mechanical

dejuicing systems

”

1.9 Other regions

“

Spain is the largest

Mediterranean producer of

oranges and mandarins

”

2

Orange juice quality