An orange juice glass in the morning is refreshing during scorching summer mornings. However, due to the acidity of the juice and fears that the juice has excessive sugar, many women are contemplating whether their breakfast staple should be left out.
Freshly cleaned oranges are safe as a component of a diet as well as provide couple of essential nutrients. Be careful when you shop to allow you to maximize the nutritional benefits while also ensuring that you remain safe from possible issues including food-borne illness.
The juices of oranges are safe, with a few concerns.
Pasteurized Vs. Unpasteurized Orange Juice
The classic orange juice is the feature of American breakfast buffets. Pure orange juice is also offered in breakfasts at schools across America. All orange juices are not made equal.
The most important factor to consider when purchasing the consumption of any liquid (or any other beverage or food item in general) is the pasteurization. When pregnant women are advised to stay clear of any food item that is not pasteurized. This includes items like cheeses that are soft cheeses and raw milk and, of course, non-pasteurized juice.
Consuming juices that are not pasteurized puts the risk of severe food-borne illnesses.
Pasteurization plays an important factor in the safety of the commercially sold versus fresh juices, as well. Juices that are labeled as farm-fresh cold-pressed, fresh, or squeezed are not pasteurized.
Although these drinks may appear to be healthier alternatives but fresh juice isn’t worth the risk. Make sure you thoroughly research these products before purchasing or drinking them, because some of the bottles that advertise as “fresh juice” could actually be pasteurized to ensure security.
Pasteurized and unpasteurized juices seem to create a divide in the health food industry. Pasteurization kills harmful bacteria that cause harmful infections, it also destroys heat-sensitive enzymes and vitamins. The effect it has on your juice might or might not be worth the risk. Most important is that you are aware of the potential dangers before you eliminate any pasteurized product altogether!
What is Pasteurization?
So let’s get back to the basics: what is the purpose of pasteurization? And what is the reason juice companies decide to use this method?
It’s worthwhile to think about the entire process to get an understanding of the reasons businesses would want to invest in this method.
Once the fruits and vegetables are ready to harvest, they must be transported, packed in a storage container, and then squeezed into juice boxes. However careful the employees are treated and how clean and maintained the equipment as well as storage bins are there’s still the risk of introducing a mixture of fruits and vegetables from the surrounding environment and it’s inevitable that some contamination will occur.
A tiny amount of dirt, few bruises, or even a handful of fruit flies are all it is needed for introducing harmful bacteria into the batch.
If you’re buying freshly picked oranges this won’t matter to much at first. There are hard skins to shield the fruit. The problem occurs after the fruits are squeezed. All the sugars are released and what started out as a single harmless bacteria has now become an excellent sweet food source that is available to it. They end up expanding to give an dangerous E. Coli or salmonella twist to your drink of orange.
Businesses avoid the risk of this happening by offering juice that has been pasteurized. They accomplish this by heating the juices of fruits to a very extreme temperature (around 100 degrees Celsius) which is enough to eliminate any food poisoning bugs.
Benefits
There are many positive benefits of pasteurization. It doesn’t just enhance the food safety, but it increases the shelf-life that the food product. I personally relish the peace of mind knowing that the next box of orange juice that I purchase at the store is approved by the FDA (food as well as drug administration) approval, and I’m unlikely to develop an illness that is serious.
Pasteurization is particularly important for those who have weak immune systems. Young children, pregnant women and those with illness that can affect their immunity must be extremely alert when considering whether or not they should go raw.
A nagging foodborne illness in some people could be fatal for those who aren’t so fortunate.
Risks
The advantages of opting to pasteurize your orange juice are quite large. The question is why raw juice is so popular in health grocery shops or juice bars?
The issue is related to nutritional value juices. Temperatures that are high cause the destruction of certain heat-sensitive vitamins as well as nutrients. Vitamin C is a prime illustration. The juices that have not been treated have been found to have higher levels of beneficial enzymes and nutrients when compared to pasteurized.
It is important to weigh the potential risks and benefits when making raw juice. If I’m making juice at home I clean my hands before I wash my hands, washing every veg and fruit thoroughly before placing it into the juicer. It is important to remove any damaged or rotten portions of the fruit since they are the most vulnerable areas for the development of infection.
In the end, if I don’t intend to drink it immediately, it is placed in a sealed container that I keep in the fridge or in the freezer. I do not leave the juice more than 24hrs in the refrigerator for the sake of being extra secure.
Unpasteurized Juice Benefits
The benefits of raw, unpasteurized juice aren’t clear. Though they are richer in levels of vitamin C as well as enzymes the amount of usable of these is contingent on the person. Each of us has a distinct level of bacteria in our intestines that digests our food , and provide the vitamins to us. This is the reason why you can’t just count the amount vitamins in a product , and ensure that it will be absorbed into your system.
Certain beneficial compounds that are found in juices from vegetables (like the lycopene in tomatoes) require heat to be applied to it in order that it is more readily available for the human body’s use.
There’s a raging debate throughout the United States and online (especially on social media) on whether raw juice is better than. The fact is that it’s got more nutrients. I’ll let you to decide if it’s worth the health risks.
Unpasteurized Juice Risks
All juices that are raw must be labelled with a warning label , as required by the U.S. food and drug administration. This restriction doesn’t apply to juices sold by the glass (like apple cider) or juice sold fresh in stands (farmers markets and roadside stands).
Although the likelihood of being exposed to the potentially fatal E. Coli o157 is still quite low, it’s not just an alarmist tale. In April 2020 , one outbreak e. Coli was traced back to bean sprouts that were fresh and being sold at the Chicago restaurant. In April, the CDC along with the FDA were contacted to investigate the outbreak.
High-Pressure Processing – A Good Alternative?
Pasteurization can be a difficult issue. However, there’s an alternative available that several juicing businesses have begun to use. It’s a technique which uses the high pressure of temperatures to kill harmful bacteria.
The best part? ?
HPP (HPP) is demonstrated scientifically to yield more nutrients-rich juices than pasteurized juice. Indeed, HPP orange juice was discovered to have just as much vitamin C raw orange juice.
Certain people are not a fan of HPP because they believe it isn’t “raw” sufficient. The claim is not yet been supported by any proof, but I’m happy to believe that HPP juice is truly the best of both worlds: tasty juice that is free of E. Coli and packed full of vitamins!
It’s entirely dependent on the individual to decide whether you like your drink “truly-raw” and not. So long as that you are aware of the potential dangers and make an educated decision.
The Final Word…
Personally, I believe the chance of being diagnosed with an unpleasant e. Coli infection is not worth the handful of nutrients that are found in raw juice. The only juice I consume is the juice that I make at home, or from a trusted and reputable source. If not, I pick juice that has been processed by HPP or has been pasteurized. It’s ultimately up to you to decide if you’re with my opinion or not!