Not So Freshly Squeezed

So I've always loved an ice cold glass of orange juice and my favorite brand is definitely Tropicana with Lots of Pulp!  Now every time that I've picked it up at my local grocery store I have been under the assumption that it is freshly squeezed, all natural orange juice because that's what it says on the container.  Wow, wasn't I mistaken. Have a look at this article I read the other day on the website civileats.com about Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice and how fresh it's NOT!  

The article was written by Alissa Hamilton who is the author of the book "Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice".  In the article she explains how in the process of pasteurizing, the orange juice is heated and stripped of oxygen, a process called deaeration, so it doesn't oxidize.  Then it's put in huge storage tanks where it can be stored for up to a year. The juice also gets stripped of flavor providing chemicals and then when it's ready for packaging, Tropicana (which is owned by Pepsi) will hire flavor companies to engineer flavor packs to make it taste fresh.

It's a pretty interesting read, it will definitely open up your eyes to how well strategized corporate marketing really is and it has once again proven how naive I can still be...