Florida was the undisputed leader in oranges and orange juice for more than a century, until Brazil claimed the title not that many years ago. But next week, a big Florida-owned juice cooperative is taking on the multibillion-dollar imported-juice industry with a brash TV campaign.

Florida's Natural, a Polk County-based juice producer that buys oranges from the Orlando area and throughout the state, is launching a "Just Say 'No' to Imported Oranges" campaign. The 15-second TV spots strike at the heart of the controversy about imported products at a time when lead-tainted toys from China and other imports are under scrutiny.

"Now, more than ever, Americans want to know what they are feeding their families and where their food comes from," said Walt Lincer, vice president of sales and marketing at grower-owned Florida's Natural. The Lake Wales-based cooperative is the only major national brand of not-from-concentrate juice -- pasteurized, ready-to-drink juice -- that uses Florida oranges exclusively, Lincer said.

Beginning Monday, the TV ads will ask why other juice companies would import from Brazil, Mexico and other countries when Florida produces billions of pounds of oranges even during a lean harvest. The answer, not addressed in the ads, is that big companies such as Minute Maid and Tropicana have not always been able to get as many oranges as they really need for juicing, especially during freeze years of the past.

But that reliance on imported juice has been used by Brazil to slowly gain the lead on Florida, using Florida's own techniques for juice production. Big juice importers such as Louis Dreyfus Citrus, based in west Orange County, bristle at any suggestion that imported orange juice is unnecessary.

Brazil helps meet Florida's orange juice needs, and U.S. juice shortfalls, year in and year out, not just in freeze years, said Rick Tomlin, president of Louis Dreyfus Citrus, whose worldwide juice-division headquarters is in Winter Garden. "There's not enough product grown here to meet demand," Tomlin said.

He said that even Florida's Natural has imported juice to meet its own sales needs in the past, and any advertising that may leave an impression that imported juice is less wholesome or safe is wrong.

"It appears that it is negative advertising," said Tomlin, whose Paris-based parent company owns juice-processing facilities in Brazil. It also packs juice in Martin County and has a major storage facility in Winter Garden, where it processed oranges for many years.

Source: orlandosentinel.com