SIMPLY ORANGE/TROPICANA
Think your “100 per cent pure” OJ is a nutritious way to start the day? Sorry, kids, you’re essentially just drinking sugar with engineered “flavour packs” created by fragrance companies to boost the orangy taste. Yep, even the “not from concentrate” stuff is heavily processed. Much of the world’s OJ now comes from Brazil, which has also become the world’s biggest purchaser of pesticides and fungicides (several of which are illegal in North America). The big brands like Coca Cola (which makes Simply Orange and Minute Maid) say they don’t allow the use of chems outlawed back home, and that any pesticides residues are within legal limits. Fine for the end user, perhaps, but not, according to reports, for Brazilian workers and wildlife. Also, Tropicana adds corn syrup to lots of its juices.
SCORE: N
NAKED JUICE
Prime example of one of the many health store brands that got snapped up by corporate America. Bolthouse Farms is now owned by Campbell, Odwalla by Coke and Naked by Pepsico. Just don’t call Naked natural. Pepsico was sued in 2012 claiming this juice was “all natural,” made with “100% juice,” “non-GMO” and contained “nothing artificial.” In fact, they were adding synthetic vitamins and fibres (including one produced by agro-giant Archer Daniels Midland). Pepsico settled out of court, dishing out $9 million, and no longer calls Naked natural. Many Naked Juices contain more sugar than a can of Pepsi. Also of note, Pepsico brands faced boycotts for donating $2.5 million to defeat GMO labeling efforts in California.
SCORE: N
HAPPY PLANET
If you’re looking for an organic Tropicana alternative, this BC-based company has some on offer. The nice thing is they’re more transparent about adding flavouring, e.g. organic orange oil. Keep in mind one of their OJs and all of their smoothies use conventional produce. (They say they use local as much “as possible.”) As with all Tetrapaks, you may pop them in the recycling bin, but only the paper part gets recycled while the plastic coating and aluminum lining are trashed – in Ontario, at least. For its “cold-pressed” line, the company does high-pressure processing, killing bacteria without heat or chemical additives. The rest are flash-pasteurized.
SCORE: NNN
LAKEWOOD/BLACK RIVER ORGANIC
Pioneering Black River gets kudos for being Canadian and packaged in glass (Kiju is from Ontario, too, but comes in Tetrapaks). The company prioritizes local, Ontario produce from small-scale farmers, and its blueberries, grapes, pears, black currants, raspberries, cranberries, strawberries, black tart cherries and apples (for cider) are all Canadian (cold-pressed, then heat pasteurized). Too bad it only makes a handful of organic options, though all are batch tested for pesticide residues. Glass-bottled Lakewood is a good all-organic American alternative, with veggie juice options like beet, carrot, kale and medicinal aloe. Lakewood makes a bigger deal of advertising that its juices are “fresh-pressed.” However they, too, are heat pasteurized to make them shelf-stable.
SCORE: NNNN
FRESH COLD-PRESSED ORGANIC JUICE
Liquid gold. At least it costs nearly as much as the prized metal. That’s partly because 1 to 2 kilos of produce are reportedly used for a single 16 ounce bottle. It’s said to be a concentrated way to up your nutrient intake, but all those pressed beets and kale may also up your pesticide ingestion if you’re not careful. Lots of companies are loosey-goosey about their organic content. Other outlets, like Greenhouse Juice and Farmacia Juice Bar, use nothing but 100 per cent organic produce in reusable glass bottles. Live Organic Raw is 100 per cent organic, though it’s high-pressure processed to kill bacteria. To guarantee freshness and organic content, cold-press juices at home with a masticating juicer – or greener still, a manual one.
SCORE: NNNNN
