Why does our apple juice come from abroad?

[Anonymous]

Random question, but haven't been able to find out myself. I have noticed that almost ANY apple juice for kids comes from abroad, usually China. Doesn't matter if it's organic or not, Whole Foods or Safeway, it's all imported. Why is that, when we have big apple-producing areas ourselves? Hoping there's a USDA person who might know the answer to this. Pure economics? Unless we're talking about out of season produce, I am trying to buy food products from the U.S.

[Anonymous]

It's cheaper to grow it there and export it...labor, land, etc are cheaper. Also, China is a vast country and much of it has the right weather and land conditions for apple farming...probably more of it than the US.

[Anonymous]

Juice has lost popularity, too. Most people don't drink as much anymore because it's high in sugar and not as "healthy" as people previously though. Pediatricians don't encourage juice drinking anymore either. My MIL always tells my kids "drink apple juice, it's good for you" but my pediatrician and their preschool do not encourage regular juice drinking (preschool only serves water and milk).

https://www.today.com/food/americans-aren-t-drinking-very-much-juice-these-days-here-t163544

[Anonymous]

There are several brands of apple juice that are locally made from apples in PA. Martinellis is a common brand with apples from CA.

[Anonymous]

Martinellis and Welchs is USA made. Apple juice is made from concentrate whihc is cheap to ship from china.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Juice has lost popularity, too. Most people don't drink as much anymore because it's high in sugar and not as "healthy" as people previously though. Pediatricians don't encourage juice drinking anymore either. My MIL always tells my kids "drink apple juice, it's good for you" but my pediatrician and their preschool do not encourage regular juice drinking (preschool only serves water and milk).

https://www.today.com/food/americans-aren-t-drinking-very-much-juice-these-days-here-t163544

Yep we only allow it at birthday parties we attend. And my kids like a bottle of "sparkling apple cider" for Christmas and birthdays at the table. It makes it festive for them, but we don't buy it otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Juice has lost popularity, too. Most people don't drink as much anymore because it's high in sugar and not as "healthy" as people previously though. Pediatricians don't encourage juice drinking anymore either. My MIL always tells my kids "drink apple juice, it's good for you" but my pediatrician and their preschool do not encourage regular juice drinking (preschool only serves water and milk).

https://www.today.com/food/americans-aren-t-drinking-very-much-juice-these-days-here-t163544

Yep we only allow it at birthday parties we attend. And my kids like a bottle of "sparkling apple cider" for Christmas and birthdays at the table. It makes it festive for them, but we don't buy it otherwise.

The funny thing is Chinese people do not drink juice because it’s too sugary for their tastes. It’s an export good for Americans.

[Anonymous]

before they sold it a family we are friends with had an apple orchard close by in Pennsylvania and the sauce and juice were produced right there.

[Anonymous]

Your kids shouldn’t be drinking apple juice anyway.

[Anonymous]

Try Red Jacket. It's from orchards (and bottled) in upstate NY.

[Anonymous]

It probably took less time for me to Google this answer than it took for you to type your OP.

Why does America import apple juice from China?

https://www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/agriculture-chinese-apples-assurance-of-safety/

The growth of U.S. imports from China has exploded over the past five years; apple juice concentrate is a perfect example. Recent statistics indicate that 78 percent of the concentrate we import comes from China. The reason: China grows one-half of the world’s crops.

The US does not grow enough apples and the farmer make more money from just distributing the apples as fruits. It isn't cost effective for more than a couple of vendors to process apples into apple juice. So you have Welch's and Martinelli's and that's about it. The rest of the US fruit crop is sold as fruit.

[Anonymous]

Why do you need to buy apple juice for kids? Why can't your kids just drink regular apple juice?

I live in Northern California. The apple juice I buy comes from ... California. My kids have drank it since they were little and so far they haven't grown a third arm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you need to buy apple juice for kids? Why can't your kids just drink regular apple juice?

I live in Northern California. The apple juice I buy comes from ... California. My kids have drank it since they were little and so far they haven't grown a third arm.

What does this mean? How do your kids drink regular apple juice without you buying it? Are you growing apples yourself and pressing them into juice?

[Anonymous]

I think it comes down to price, people are not going to pay let’s assume twice as much for domestic juice.

[Anonymous]

Who still regularly gives kids juice anymore?