Cartoned, or chilled orange juice as it is commonly called, is single strength orange juice which is marketed in a waxed fiberboard carton. It is prepared and treated in such a manner as to retain most of the flavor and aroma which is associated with freshly extracted orange juice. As a result it is quite perishable in nature and must be maintained under adequate refrigeration in order to reach the ultimate consumer in a palatable form. It is now produced by more than twenty processing firms in the state of Florida and marketed under more than seventy trade names or labels. In addition to the Florida producers there are several firms in the state of California producing a similar product for distribution on the West Coast. Chilled, or cartoned, orange juice produced in the state of Florida is distributed throughout the United States as far North as Canada and as far West as Oklahoma City. During the past season more than 3,000,000 boxes of Florida oranges were used in the production of this product. It is anticipated that during the current season an excess of 5,000,000 boxes will be utilized. Producers of this product range in size and investment from large citrus processing firms which have been well established in other citrus products for years, to small operators who have only two extracting machines and some used dairy equipment as a physical plant. Distribution ranges from large fleets of privately owned refrigerated trucks to once a week shipping schedules by a chartered refrigerated van.
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