POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida citrus growers are celebrating a proposal from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change its definition of orange juice.

“We’re thrilled,” said Matt Joyner, executive vice president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual. “This has been almost 3.5 years in the making. Very frustrating situation, but we are excited about the opportunity to see the administration move forward with this rule change.”

Florida Citrus Mutual is a Polk County-based organization that advocates for Florida’s citrus growers.

The most recent data available show that Polk County is the top producer of citrus in terms of both production and acreage, according to Joyner.

Federal regulation requires pasteurized orange juice to have a 10.5 Brix level, a measure of dissolved sugar content.

“When we look at the impacts of storms over the past decade and we see two decades of citrus greening that have impacted the Florida crop but also citrus worldwide, we know that trees have been stressed,” Joyner said. “Trees have been impacted. So the naturally occurring Brix or sugar levels in that fruit have decreased.”

Florida growers often have to blend their juice with imported juices to meet that threshold.

This month, the FDA proposed lowering the required Brix level from 10.5% to 10%. Joyner said Florida growers can achieve this ratio without altering the flavor.

“We’ve done, as an industry, many taste tests, consumer taste tests, panels,” Joyner said. “There is no recognition of the difference between 10.5 and 10.0 Brix.”

U.S. Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody have advocated for the regulation change.

“Our growers have faced many hardships over the past several years, from devastating storms to citrus greening, and could no longer endure the unnecessary and burdensome regulations that favored foreign growers,” said Sen. Ashley Moody in a statement from her office.

News Channel 8 asked Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson about the proposed change Thursday.

“Citrus growers have many more problems than the Brix standard,” he said. “The Brix standard will certainly give them relief.”

Simpson said the state has invested $100 million to help growers replant citrus trees after devastation from storms and disease, which has cut Florida’s crop by 90%.

Simpson said research into disease-resistant tree species has made “significant progress.”

“What we hope is five years from now — an industry that went from 290 million boxes at its peak to maybe 12 million boxes this coming year — will maybe get back up to 50 or 60 million boxes of fruit,” Simpson said. “We’re very concerned about our citrus industry, but farmers will adapt, and farmers are very resilient.”

The FDA will accept public comments through November 4, 2025. More information is available here.