A New York consumer recently sued Florida’s Natural, the maker of their namesake orange juice, after she learned that some of the juice was not actually from Florida. [See complaint.]
*MOUSE PRINT:
In fact, some of it was from Mexico and Brazil, but the cartons give the impression that it is a made in America product.
The company explains on their website (but not on the package) that the crop of Florida oranges has been declining so they had to seek out other sources, including foreign concentrates. The front of containers discloses that the juice not only comes from Florida, but also from “the world’s premier citrus-growing regions.” Oddly, the container pictured in the lawsuit is missing that disclosure.
When we covered this change back in 2022, the front of the carton explicitly mentioned Mexico.
The consumer’s lawyer claims that shoppers are being misled, that the company engaged in deceptive practices, and thus the plaintiffs are entitled to monetary damages.
I feel for Florida’s Natural here because they’re kind of in a no win situation. They’re doing everything they can to save the orange crops in the state, but wasting disease is killing them all.
However it should be disclosed on every container.
Just because the company is USA owned does not mean it still has to use only USA based ingredients.
It seems that with a change of the packaging once again that they removed the mother nature text you clearly showed from the 2022 post. That possibly should have not been removed from the package.
For a change, I’m sympathetic to the company. Other than giving up the trade name they’ve invested in for decades, I don’t see what else they can do other than the sourcing disclaimer on the front and the ingredient specification elsewhere on the carton. However, the older trade dress that predominantly displayed “Florida’s Natural” and “Farmer’s Co-operative” on the front, but left the actual juice origins to a side panel was, in my opinion, deceptive.
It strikes me as deceptive, given the name–which notably (though not mentioned in the complaint) is in possessive form (Florida’s)–the American flag graphic and the words about Florida farmers.
Nonetheless, it would surprise me if the usages weren’t considered by the business’s lawyers and perhaps even cleared with state and/or federal regulatory authorities.
One thing mentioned in the complaint that is curious is the business ownership. The complaint makes it sound corporate, whereas the packaging emphasizes farmer-cooperative ownership.
Lastly, for what it’s worth, I have purchased this brand of OJ for a long time, even recalling when it wasn’t from concentrate. In terms of pricing, in my experience it is pretty much in line with other widely distributed comparable brands.
FN needs to drop “premium” from its label.
Though the price is still premium, the OJ isn’t.