Odwalla Will Pasteurize Its Apple Juice
Odwalla Inc., the California fresh juice maker whose unpasteurized apple juice was linked to a deadly outbreak of E. coli poisoning, will begin stocking store shelves with a “flash-pasteurized” apple juice beginning today.
The step marks a serious philosophical departure for the Half Moon Bay company, which has built its reputation on claims that its freshly squeezed or pressed juices are superior in taste and wholesomeness to pasteurized beverages.
“Right now we believe pasteurization is an important line of defense,” said Chief Executive Stephen Williamson. “What [customers] are looking for is a degree of comfort.”
He noted, however, that the company has developed a proprietary process for quickly heating and then rapidly re-cooling juice that affects taste less than traditional pasteurization, which entails heating for a much longer period.
Odwalla will continue to produce unpasteurized citrus juices, as it has since the food poisoning crisis. But by pasteurizing its apple juice, the company runs the risk of looking hypocritical to customers who flocked to the beverages because they were free of processing.
After the decision to pasteurize was reported in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Odwalla shares fell 50 cents to $14.125 on Nasdaq.
One investment analyst said the company took a necessary step to begin rebuilding consumer confidence.
“The first words out of my mouth were ‘safety first,’ ” said Jean-Michel Valette, an analyst with Hambrecht & Quist, a San Francisco investment firm that helped underwrite sales of Odwalla stock. “I think they’re responding to the new realities out there. That’s in keeping with their whole philosophy. They’re a nourishment company, and the evidence suggests now that you probably shouldn’t drink unpasteurized apple juice.”
Odwalla voluntarily recalled its freshly pressed apple juice, blended juices containing apple juice and carrot juices after public health officials in Seattle announced news of the E. coli outbreak Oct. 30. All told, more than 50 cases of severe diarrhea, some of them complicated by more serious kidney problems, have been reported in California, Washington, Colorado and British Columbia.
The common link was that almost all affected individuals--including a 16-month-old girl who died in Colorado--had drunk Odwalla juices or smoothies containing apple juice. Odwalla, the nation’s largest fresh juice producer, sells its beverages in 4,600 stores in seven states and western Canada.
The culprit was a rod-shaped bacterium known as E. coli O157:H7, a microbe similar to, if not the same as, one that sickened as many as 9,000 people and killed 10 last summer in Japan. In extensive testing at Odwalla’s plant in Dinuba in Tulare County, officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could find no evidence of the microbe. But their investigation is continuing.
Meanwhile, Odwalla’s sales have suffered as many products were withheld from distribution. Apple juice and beverages containing apple juice had accounted for as much as 70% of sales, according to Valette.
The 650-person company recently laid off 60 hourly employees, most of them entry-level delivery van drivers.
Williamson said the company has added several measures designed to enhance safety at its state-of-the-art plant. Among other steps, Odwalla will spray apples with a neutral detergent and a chlorine rinse. Fruit will be carted into the facility from outside delivery areas in special plastic bins. No other bins--from growers or packing houses--will be allowed inside the plant.
So-called flash pasteurization, Williamson explained, will involve quickly heating the juice, keeping it hot for a “limited number of seconds” and then re-cooling it quickly. The method was developed with the National Food Laboratory, a private food testing lab in Dublin, Calif.
“We tested the toughest, meanest, most virulent strain of E. coli O157:H7 that we could find,” Williamson said. Among the strains was one associated with four deaths of individuals who had consumed tainted hamburgers at Jack in the Box restaurants in 1993.
The quick-heating concept is not new in the beverage industry, said Dane Bernard, vice president of food safety programs at the National Food Processors Assn. in Washington. Many juice makers use a form of flash pasteurization, and the technique has been used for milk since the 1940s.
Beginning Dec. 16, Odwalla officials are scheduled to participate in a two-day public meeting in Washington about the safety of fresh juices. The meeting is being organized by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
