Apple Juice Poisoning: The Panic That Wasn't

Not Being Defensive Is The Best Offense

By Joanne Jacobs

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What's odd about the Odwalla story is the absence of hysteria. The Half Moon Bay company's apple juice has been linked to a multistate E.coli outbreak that's sickened dozens, sent small children to the hospital and may have killed a Colorado toddler. Where's the panic?

Loyal customers are buying Odwalla's non-apple based juices, and eagerly awaiting the return of apple-based juices made without pasteurization or preservatives.

The parents of the Colorado child who died after drinking her favorite Odwalla apple juice, say they won't sue. "I don't blame the company," said Christy Gimmestad, after her daughter's death.

This is remarkable.

At Whole Foods in Palo Alto, Sheri Moody was buying Odwalla orange juice to show her support for the company, and her anger at reports a San Francisco lawyer is looking for people to sue Odwalla. "Odwalla is a good, ethical company," said Moody, an occasional customer. "Sometimes bad things happen to good companies."

At the Palo Alto Co-op Supermarket shoppers are worried about Odwalla's health, in addition to their own. "People who are into health foods are afraid they'll lose the chance to buy fresh, squeezed juice," said Rex Williams, general manager at Co-op in Palo Alto. "For the most part, people are supportive of Odwalla."

Odwalla customers pay premium prices: Serious Ginseng, reformulated to eliminate apple juice, costs $2.79 for 16 ounces at Co-op; Honey Lemon is the cheapest at $1.69. They think it's worth it.

The Food and Drug Administration is considering requiring all apple juice, and possibly all juice, to be pasteurized. Pasteurization destroys bacteria. Fresh squeezed fans say it also destroys flavor, nutrients and enzymes.

It could destroy businesses too, Williams pointed out. Juice bars couldn't afford to pasteurize, and who's going to pay $3.25 for a canned juice smoothie?

In part, Odwalla is reaping the benefit of a good reputation, and its quick response to questions about its products' safety.

Odwalla promptly recalled products with apple juice, and also recalled other juices made on the same equipment. The company offered to pay the medical bills for anyone made sick by Odwalla juice. The company chairman has visited the sick, and consoled the Gimmestads.

Not being defensive is the best offense.

So far, nobody knows how E.coli got into a batch of apple juice. An inspection of Odwalla's processing plant in Dinuba came up clean. The current theory is that the company unknowingly bought apples that had fallen in manure.

Clearly, many consumers are giving Odwalla the benefit of the doubt.

"I've seen a lot of support," said an Odwalla delivery driver, whose truck bears the slogan: "Drink It and Thrive." A serious juicie, she misses her Superfood, an Odwalla "nutritional" made of spirulina wheat grass, blue-green algae and fruit juices. "It's green, but if you can get past that, it gives you a lot of energy"

Odwalla also benefits from consumers' willingness to accept natural risks, like bacteria, while refusing to tolerate even the remotest man-made risks. Many people believe natural necessarily means healthy. They worry more about the risks of preservatives than the risk of eating spoiled food. They fret about chemical fertilizers but not about a natural alternative: manure. Mother Nature is their friend; Dr. Science is not.

There's also a growing skepticism about food scares. We've been through too many, and we're tired of being warned that everything we enjoy is bad for us.

In 1989, the Alar scare cost apple growers an estimated $100 million. Parents panicked when an environmental group claimed traces of Alar, used on 5 to 15 percent of the apple crop, increased cancer risks for children.

Demand soared for organic produce, grown without chemicals, and "health food" moved into mainstream supermarkets. It seems to be there to stay.

Personally, I never buy organic. It's too expensive. I've never had a swig of Femme Vitale, Maya Papaya or Menage a Tropique. I'm cheap.

But l hope the FDA lets Odwalla be Odwalla, perhaps with added warnings about the risk of unpasteurized juice for young children, who are least able to fight off an E. cold infection. . (Who can afford to let their kids develop a taste for Odwalla?)

If adults are willing to take the slightly higher risk of unpasteurized juice, rather than giving up the taste of fresh-squeezed spirulina, why not let them drink the beverage of their choice?

I'll stick to my carbonated water, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate, natural flavors and citric acid.

Credits

Joanne Jacobs is a member of the San Jose Mercury News editorial board. Her column appears on Mondays and Thursdays. You may reach her at 750 Ridder Park Dr., San Jose, CA 95190, by fax at 4O8-271-3792, or e-mail to jjacobs@sjmercury.com