US blocks some orange juice imports due to fungicide US authorities on Friday detained nine shipments of orange juice from Brazil and Canada after their contents tested positive for an illegal fungicide. The Food and Drug Administration said the orange juice tested positive for carbendazim, a pesticide that is not legal for use on oranges in the United States but is approved in Brazil and some other countries. The FDA is testing samples of orange juice shipments from all countries and manufacturers that send such products to the United States after discovering the contamination earlier this month. The regulatory agency said the pesticide was detected at 10 parts per billion or more in 11 shipments, two of which the firms decided not to import into the United States. The other nine were detained at the border. A total of 80 shipments were tested. Six of the shipments were from Canada and five from Brazil. In early January, the FDA said the carbendazim traces appeared to come from pesticides being applied to orange trees. The pesticide was present at "low levels" in some orange juice products that blend imported juice from Brazil with US grown fruit juice, it said. The Environmental Protection Agency did a preliminary risk assessment and concluded that consuming orange juice with carbendazim at low levels "does not raise safety concerns."