Florida Orange Juice Versus the Orange Drink

You probably already know this but orange drinks are not necessarily orange juice. In fact in the vast majority of orange drinks there isn’t any orange juice. Orange drinks are just,,,well they’re just orange.

Of course the Feds couldn’t let something this obvious go by without creating a regulation to protect those of us who mistake Tang for real orange juice. That’s right, if you thought that orange Nehi soda was made from some magical orange that had mega doses of sugar and carbonated juice, then you are exactly the consumer that the FDA wants to protect by requiring the drink manufacturers to include the percentage of real juice in their product labels.

Of course if you think Nehi is real orange juice you probably can’t read so the label isn’t going to be all that helpful to you.

Orange drinks are made up mostly of water, sugar and food coloring and have little to no nutritional value. Sometimes the “healthy” orange drinks will throw in a vitamin fortification and may have “2% or less” natural fruit juice but that typically is for marketing purposes and not to make the drink any healthier for you to consume.

We picked on Nehi but think of all the popular orange drinks that have a much larger distribution. Orange Julius, Sunny Delight, Tang and McDonald’s Orange Drink all are non orange (fruit) orange drinks. Granted Tang was developed for NASA and does include “more vitamin C” than a real orange but it also has a bunch of stuff you won’t find in an orange like way more sugar and Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 preservatives.

Sunny Delight may have the dubious honor of having the worse product launch known to man. When they introduced the orange drink in the UK it was sold as a healthy alternative to sodas and apparently the Brits are not as gullible as Americans. Water and corn syrup do not a health drink make.

But things got really bad that first winter when Sunny Delight ran a TV ad showing a snowman turning orange after drinking the product. Unfortunately, about the same time news reports of a young girl turning orange after drinking too much of the beta-carotene laced product surfaced. Sales dropped by half.

Orange drinks by themselves are no worse or no better than any other soft drink. If you like sugar water that’s colored orange then this is the drink for you. What gets the orange growers in a hissy fit is when orange drinks are advertised as a healthy morning drink which of course bites into their market, and health benefits aside, now you’re talking money.

Taste the Sunshine with Hale Groves

At Hale Groves, we believe the best gifts come from the land, not a factory. For generations, our fruit has been grown slowly under the Florida sun, picked at its peak, and delivered fresh to your door. From sweet Navel Oranges to rare Honeybells, every gift shares the simple joy of real flavor—perfect for holidays, milestones, or everyday moments worth celebrating.

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