A health warning over orange juice being potentially contaminated with a banned chemical has sparked fears of a global shortage, sending prices rocketing to an all time high.
Brits could find budgets squeezed as the cost of the nation’s five-a-day breakfast staple is at the centre of the alert which could see imports from Brazil axed.
The South American nation produces 50% of the world’s OJ but American food police said traces of banned fungicide carbendazim had been found in imported batches of concentrate used by big brands.
It is now checking all imports with plans to send back shipments that show traces of the chemical.
The move has sent orange juice prices to an all time high of $2.12 a pound - a rise of 25% in just 12 days.
The US Food and Drug Administration said it was not calling for shelves to be cleared but the health alert was enough to cause panic on the global market.
Avery Putter, a broker with US based Pine Point Commodities said any ban “would take the whole Brazilian crop out of the market” and added: “It could be huge”.
Linked with a cold snap in Florida that could affect harvests, the fruit juice could become more expensive than a bottle of supermarket plonk.
Orange juice prices quadrupled in 2005 and 2006 after a series of hurricanes battered Florida, wrecking the crop and spreading diseases such as citrus greening, which is fatal for orange groves.
UK watchdog the Food Standards Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said no health alert had been issued in the UK.