Apple Juice Concentrate from China | update

To be fair, Knouse Foods is not the only company importing and or selling apple juice concentrate from China. A trip to my local Giant Food Store revealed that all of the brands selling 100% apple juice from concentrate indicated they contained juice from China (among other countries). Many other juice products contain apple juice concentrate but blends containing more than one type of juice were not labled as to the country of origin of it's contents.

 

Some questions I have for Knouse Food's President, Mr. Ken Guise are the following:

 

1) You say you test the concentrate before it is used in your products; do you test for poisonous chemicals and heavy metals?

 

2) Has anyone employed domestically by Knouse Foods ever been to China (or the other apple juice concentrate exporting countries) to see the orchards from which the concentrate comes and talk to the people who grow the fruit?

 

3) As a fruit buyer, what quality standards does Knouse Foods hold it's produce to when inspecting them prior to processing?

 

4) Your website boasts about how Knouse Foods actually won an award for exporting some of it's products to other countries. In an email I received from your customer service department, you indicated that due to high demand domestically, it was necessary to supplement our domestic supply with foreign concentrate. Please reconcile these statements for me.

 

5) Do you really serve juice concentrate from China to your own family?

 

Mr Guise, I hope things are changing for the better with all the bad news coming out China. I hope the average US consumer is beginning to care a little bit about where their food comes from. I, for one, am doing all I can:

 

1) initiating conversations with my friends, co-workers and family about why they should care about their food

2) buying (as much as possible) food grown and processed as close to my home as possible

3) growing as much of my own food in my garden as possible

 

OAO

Lucky Leaf 100% Apple Juice from China?

This is a BUYER BE WARE post.

Either they are hoping you won't notice or you won't care. I was shocked to see the date code on this bottle of juice. Take a close look.
Here's a better photo of the date code.
We've been buying this brand of apple juice for about four years. Our children drink it almost everyday. While Lucky Leaf is a trusted household name (and has been since 1949) they also happen to have the lowest price point when compared to similarly labeled juice products. This bottle is "100% apple juice from concentrate and fresh apples" and was accidentally selected off of our grocery store shelf. My wife normally buys the Lucky Leaf "Premium 100% apple juice not from concentrate".

The US stopped importing meat from China. Already this year pets all over our country were killed by a poisonous ingredient from China. Warnings about antibiotics in farm raised seafood from China made national headlines this year. Not to mention the millions of toys MATTELL has just recalled; some for lead paint! Then I read on this bottle of 100% apple juice, "JUICE FROM CHINA."

You would think a brand like Lucky Leaf from a company like Knouse Foods would care more about it's customers. Prior to this discovery I was happy to vote with my "juice dollars" and buy 100% apple juice from a local company. Afterall, my wife grew up in Biglerville where Knouse has operated a facility since 1984.

I don't trust communism, communists, or products from their countries. I am beginning to distrust many household American companies that I have grown up with. It is sad that Knouse Foods has stooped to slapping their valuable brand name on crap from China. I am going to suggest to my wife that she not purchase from any juice company that imports ingredients, fruit or concentrate from China.