INDUSTRY regulators could bow to pressure from companies to allow them to continue to import Brazilian orange juice concentrate.
While the level of risk is unknown, the juice could be potentially laced with the fungicide carbendazim.
During a Senate Estimates hearing last week, Food Standards Australia and New Zealand chief executive Steve McCutcheon said the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority had decided last November to amend the maximum residue limit for carbendazim to zero.
The recommendation was then watered down to halve the limit to five parts per million. Mr McCutcheon told the hearing this followed lobbying by the industry.
He said Australian growers produced about 45 per cent of the juice required, forcing companies to use imported concentrate - 32,000 tonnes in 2010. Senator Nick Xenophon said carbendazim had been banned in the industry for two years. But it was still possible to import concentrated juice containing residue.
Mr McCutcheon agreed it was also possible people who bought juice labelled "made in Australia" were consuming a product that was more than 70 per cent Brazilian concentrate.
