Thick rinds may lead to a shortage of Mexican grapefruit in the US

Published Oct 28, 2022

Tridge summary

The USDA has reinstated a juice content standard for imported grapefruit, expected to result in a severe shortage of grapefruit this winter and significant price increase. The standard, which requires the fruit to have between 49 and 52 percent juice content, is likely to affect Mexican grapefruits, which have a thicker rind and are more likely to fail this standard. This decision has been criticized by the Citrus Import Coalition, which believes that Mexican grapefruits meet quality standards and is calling for an industrywide discussion on juice requirements as part of a larger quality standard.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Will there be any Mexican grapefruit on the market this winter?Possibly not, because under pressure from legislators from grapefruit-producing states Florida and Texas, USDA has reinstated a juice content standard for imported grapefruit.How much juice should a grapefruit have?There aren’t any national standards. But according to Florida guidelines, it’s someplace between 49 and 52 percent in order for the fruit to be determined as mature. Florida standards have been adopted as a de facto national standard, although USDA has indicated that they relate to a state marketing order only.As a result, in April 2021, USDA suspended the juice content requirement for grapefruit from Mexico, leading to a familiar clash between importers and Southeastern growers.“Since this suspension was enacted as a patch instead of a rule change, there was no opportunity for public comment that could have revealed these serious concerns,” said Sid Miller, Texas commissioner of agriculture, in a November ...

Source: Producebluebook