Food Labeling: Warning and Notice Statement; Labeling of Juice Products; Technical Scientific Workshops; Requests for Additional Time to Achieve the Pathogen Reduction Standard

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing two technical scientific workshops to discuss and clarify issues related to the implementation of the agency's rule requiring a warning statement for certain juice products. In particular, the workshops will address the pathogen reduction interventions that have been developed for citrus juice production and the methods for measuring and validating such systems. FDA is also announcing a process by which individual manufacturers of citrus juices may request additional time, beyond the current compliance date of November 5, 1998, to implement a validated system of control measures that achieves the required reduction in pathogenic microorganisms. Manufacturers who implement such control measures will not be required to use the warning statement on their juice products. These actions are being taken in response to requests from several fresh citrus juice manufacturers that have indicated they want to implement improved controls but need additional time to do so.