Oranges

Completeness scorecard

Deterministic gap audit — no score is composite, no cell is LLM-judged. Each chip is re-derivable by re-running tools/evidence/build-ingredient-scorecard.mjs. review: residuals and missing data are worked autonomously via data/evidence/ingredient-scorecard-review-flags.csv and wiki/completeness-gaps.md.

FSA/Fera measured this ingredient or non-infant-specific food composite in Table 6 of the FS102048 survey. Exact concentration values remain in progress until Table 6 is parsed into structured ingredient rows with less-than and semi-quantitative flags preserved. fsa2016-infant-food-formula-metals-survey

Why this commodity accumulates heavy metals

Oranges are one of the lowest-risk food categories for heavy metal accumulation, though the edible flesh carries low but non-zero lead and cadmium rather than true zeros. The thick, waxy peel that characterizes citrus fruit provides a physical barrier that substantially limits atmospheric Pb deposition from reaching the edible flesh; Pb that deposits on the outer peel surface is removed with the peel during normal peeling and juicing operations. Root uptake of Cd and Pb from soil occurs in citrus trees as in other fruit trees, but the transfer factor from root to fruit flesh is low; citrus trees are not recognized accumulators of Pb or Cd, and the physiological buffering of the fruit through the tree’s vascular system results in low concentrations in the flesh. Mercury is not a significant concern in citrus grown under typical commercial conditions. Inorganic arsenic is similarly not a significant analyte in citrus flesh. The FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 composite for raw orange (TDS Food 79, n=27) reports Pb, Cd, Cr, and tHg below their reporting limits across most or all samples (FDA 2022); those below-limit results are carried as left-censored bounds rather than measured zeros, and primary fresh-fruit and retail-citrus surveys that name oranges by commodity detect lead and cadmium at low concentrations in the flesh (see the Synthesis basis and censoring treatment section). Nickel (max 87 ppb), uranium (a single detect at 6.5 ppb), and tAs (max 6.7 ppb) were the analytes detected at the high end of the FDA distribution.

Heavy metal contamination profile

Per-analyte snapshot derived from the machine-readable contamination_profile in the frontmatter above. data gap indicates the literature has been reviewed for this commodity-analyte combination and no usable occurrence data was found (a finding, not a placeholder). The Key sources column shows the top 2-3 contributing sources by year and sample size, with numbered wikilink aliases.

Synthesis basis and censoring treatment

The lead, cadmium, total-mercury, and uranium cells were resynthesized on 2026-06-11 on a raw-orange edible-flesh wet-weight basis, the form in which the fruit is consumed. Values below the analytical limit of detection or quantification are treated as left-censored, not as measured zeros.

The earlier profile reported lead, cadmium, total mercury, and uranium at typical and 95th-percentile values of zero, three of them at high confidence. Those figures were an artifact of the FDA Total Diet Study FY2018-FY2020 composite for “Orange, raw” (TDS Food 79, n=27), in which most or all samples fell below the reporting limit for each metal and the reported below-limit results were pooled as literal zeros (FDA 2022, reporting limits Pb 4, Cd 1, tHg 1, U 1 µg/kg). The resynthesis replaces the literal zeros with the honest FDA censored floor expressed as a left-censored bound and, for lead and cadmium, with the detected primary fresh-fruit and retail-citrus distribution that names oranges by commodity.

Lead is non-zero in the orange-specific occurrence literature. The Egyptian Ismailia market survey (Loutfy et al. 2012, wet-weight) reports an orange lead mean of 48.6 µg/kg with a range of 20 to 72.2 µg/kg across five analyzed pools; the Pakistani Khyber Pakhtunkhwa survey (Rahim et al. 2020) reports orange lead at 39.2 µg/kg dry weight, and the European retail-citrus survey (Czech et al. 2021, ICP-OES) reports whole-fruit orange lead of 10 µg/kg (1.00 µg/100 g fresh weight, peel-inclusive). Three further surveys returned orange lead below their detection limits: Ethiopia (Mekonnen et al. 2024, not detected, method detection limit 0.082 mg/L), Egypt across four governorates (Amer et al. 2019, not detected), and Nigeria (Unaegbu et al. 2016, not detected). The pooled lead typical of [0, 49] takes the FDA censored floor of 4 µg/kg as the low bound and the Loutfy wet-weight central as the upper; the 95th-percentile of 72 µg/kg is the Loutfy orange maximum, the top of the ordered orange-specific set. Confidence is medium: the positive values are consistent across three independent surveys, but they span wet-weight, dry-weight, and whole-fruit (peel-inclusive) bases that are not strictly inter-convertible, and three other surveys returned non-detects.

Cadmium is likewise low but non-zero. The Loutfy market survey reports an orange cadmium mean of 10.0 µg/kg wet weight (range 6 to 15.3); Rahim reports 10.6 µg/kg dry weight; Czech reports whole-fruit orange cadmium of 0.34 µg/kg (0.034 µg/100 g); the single FDA detect is 1.2 µg/kg (Mid-Atlantic winter composite) against an otherwise fully censored cell. The pooled cadmium typical of [0, 10] spans the FDA censored floor of 1 µg/kg to the Loutfy wet-weight central, and the 95th-percentile of 15 µg/kg is the Loutfy orange maximum. Confidence is held at low: the Ethiopian open-market survey (Mekonnen et al. 2024) reports an orange cadmium of 147 µg/kg dry weight, more than an order of magnitude above every other anchor, which is carried as a stratified high-cadmium outlier rather than folded into the central estimate (see Ranges by source). The single review-derived orange cadmium of 100 µg/kg in Munir et al. 2022 traces to one Nigerian farm-site study and is treated as context, not as a pooled input.

Total mercury rests on the FDA censored floor alone. No source in the corpus reports a positive orange-specific total-mercury value: the FDA TDS composite is below the 1 µg/kg reporting limit across all 27 samples, and the fruit-by-product review that names oranges in scope (Tsegay et al. 2025) carries no quantitative orange mercury entry and notes that mercury speciation is absent from its source data. The total-mercury cell is therefore recorded with the FDA reporting limit as a left-censored low bound ([0, null]), no upper bound or 95th-percentile, at low confidence and a single contributor. Total mercury is held distinct from methylmercury and is not derived from it; no speciated methylmercury measurement exists for this ingredient.

Uranium is recorded as a reviewed data gap. FDA reports a single orange uranium detect of 6.5 µg/kg (Mid-Atlantic winter composite) against 26 of 27 samples below the 1 µg/kg reporting limit, and no non-FDA source reports an orange uranium value, so a single censored detect does not constitute an extractable quantitative distribution. No distribution is published (the rice-uranium precedent), and the cell is held as a reviewed gap rather than as a measured zero.

Routing

This node is linked from the ingredient index and source routing list.

Contamination Profile State

The machine-readable contamination profile is in_progress. Ingredient-level values belong here once parsed; finished-product values belong on the relevant product-category page.

FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 Evidence

FDA’s FY2018-FY2020 Total Diet Study dataset includes this page’s routed matrix as TDS Food 79, “Orange, raw.” The normalized row-level data is stored in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_element_results_samples.csv, with per-food/per-analyte summaries in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_summary_by_food_analyte.csv. Concentrations are retained as FDA reported them, with reporting limits preserved separately; reported zeroes are not rewritten as <LOD without a source-specific rule. fda2022-tds-elements-fy2018-fy2020

FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 Occurrence Values

FDA Total Diet Study FY2018-FY2020 reports prepared/composite-food concentration distributions for this ingredient as TDS food “Orange, raw” (fda2022-tds-elements-fy2018-fy2020). Values are in ppb-equivalent on the basis FDA reported. The full sample-level data are stored in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_element_results_samples.csv; per-analyte distributions in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_summary_by_food_analyte.csv. These distributions count as one source under persistent-wiki-ingest-rule synthesis discipline; numerical values stay in body scratch until a second independent source is integrated.

Ranges by source, region, and variety

The FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 dataset fda2022-tds-elements-fy2018-fy2020 for raw orange (n=27) provides the most comprehensive US monitoring baseline in the current corpus; it reports Pb, Cd, Cr, and tHg below their reporting limits across most or all composites, which constrains the orange-flesh burden from above rather than establishing it at zero. Ni was detected at concentrations ranging from 0 to 87 ppb (p90 approximately 60 ppb, max 87 ppb); tAs was detected in the upper tail of the distribution (p95 approximately 2 ppb, max 6.7 ppb); uranium showed a single detect at 6.5 ppb.

Primary fresh-fruit surveys that measure oranges by commodity recover low but non-zero lead and cadmium. The Egyptian Ismailia market survey (Loutfy et al. 2012) reports orange lead of 48.6 µg/kg (range 20 to 72.2) and cadmium of 10.0 µg/kg (range 6 to 15.3) on a wet-weight basis; the Pakistani survey (Rahim et al. 2020) reports orange lead 39.2 µg/kg and cadmium 10.6 µg/kg on a dry-weight basis; and the European retail-citrus survey (Czech et al. 2021) reports whole-fruit orange lead 10 µg/kg and cadmium 0.34 µg/kg, the whole-fruit figure sitting at or above the pulp-only edible-flesh concentration because the rind concentrates both metals. Against these, three further surveys (Ethiopia, Egypt across four governorates, Nigeria) returned orange lead below their detection limits.

Two outliers are stratified out of the headline distribution. The Ethiopian open-market survey (Mekonnen et al. 2024) reports an orange cadmium of 147 µg/kg dry weight, more than an order of magnitude above every other anchor and consistent with that study’s framing of elevated soil cadmium and lead inputs in the Bahir Dar market catchment; it is recorded as a high-cadmium stratum, not folded into the central estimate. The review-derived orange lead of 5.80 mg/kg and cadmium of 0.10 mg/kg in Munir et al. 2022 trace to a single Nigerian farm-site study, are roughly 50 times the EU fruit maximum level for lead, and are treated as flagged context rather than pooled inputs. The FSA FS102048 survey fsa2016-infant-food-formula-metals-survey provides additional UK dietary-monitoring context. Variation between growing regions cannot yet be separated from analytical-basis differences (wet weight, dry weight, whole fruit) in the current corpus with sufficient granularity to isolate geographic from varietal effects.

Processing effects

Peel removal before consumption or before juice extraction eliminates the outer tissue that carries the highest surface Pb deposition risk, though Pb in orange flesh is already below detection limits in US monitoring data. Peeling and consumption of the flesh without the peel (normal commercial and home practice) is therefore already the effectively lowest-metal consumption mode for this commodity. Drying to produce dried orange peel (used in confectionery and flavoring) concentrates analytes on a wet weight basis proportionally to moisture loss, and surface deposition on the peel is concentrated rather than removed. Juicing is addressed on the orange-juice page.

Ingredient-derivative risk

Fresh orange segments and commercially produced orange purée carry approximately equivalent metal profiles on a moisture-corrected basis, since purée production does not concentrate metals beyond the reduction in water content during the puréeing step. Dried orange peel and orange peel powder (used as a food ingredient and flavoring) concentrate any surface Pb and other metals present in the peel; these derivatives warrant separate occurrence characterization and should not be extrapolated from the flesh-based data that dominate the current corpus. Orange extract and orange oil (cold-pressed or steam-distilled) carry negligible metals because the extraction process is selective for lipophilic volatile compounds. Orange juice as a separate product category is covered on orange-juice.

Mitigation options

Sourcing levers

Given the uniformly low metal concentrations documented in orange flesh, commercial sourcing decisions for fresh oranges are not a material lever for metal-content management in normal agricultural practice. For dried peel or peel-containing derivatives, sourcing from growing regions with lower atmospheric Pb deposition (non-urban, non-industrial areas) reduces peel Pb risk.

Agronomic levers

No quantified data on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Processing levers

Standard peel removal before consumption or processing of the flesh eliminates the primary surface-deposition risk. For peel-containing products, washing the peel before processing removes the most readily desorbed surface Pb.

Formulation levers

No quantified data on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Testing and QC levers

Given the very low metal concentrations in orange flesh documented across monitoring programs, routine heavy metal testing of fresh orange is of low priority for most supply chain applications. For products incorporating orange peel (marmalade, flavoring extracts, supplements), Pb testing of the peel-derived ingredient provides relevant assurance.

Packaging and storage levers

No quantified data on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Regulatory limits that apply

European Union Regulation (EU) 2023/915 eu2023-contaminants-maximum-levels sets a maximum level of 0.10 mg/kg for Pb and 0.050 mg/kg for Cd in fresh fruit on a wet weight basis, applicable to oranges. The Codex General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed (CXS 193-1995) sets Pb maximum levels for fresh fruit. No specific iAs or tHg regulatory limit applies to fresh citrus fruit. Orange juice (the derived product) is subject to a more stringent EU Pb limit of 0.050 mg/kg; see orange-juice and eu2023-contaminants-maximum-levels for the juice-specific framework.

Sources

Auto-generated from source-page frontmatter. The “Used on this page for” column is populated by the orchestrator’s POPULATE-SOURCE-LEGEND action; pending entries appear as *[awaiting synthesis]*.

Page history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.