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Don’t toss out that full carton of orange juice sitting in your refrigerator just yet.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is testing all orange juice and orange juice concentrate shipments as well as products at domestic manufacturers, but the regulating agency says "consumers can be confident that the orange juice in their refrigerators is safe."

Here’s what you need to know.

Why is the FDA testing OJ? Last month, Coca-Cola alerted the FDA that it detected low levels of a fungicide in its own and in competitors’ orange juice and in juice concentrates from Brazil following routine tests.

As a precautionary measure, the FDA has halted imports of orange juice and orange juice concentrates from all over the world, and is testing each shipment for the fungicide carbendazim. The FDA said it will deny entry of any imported orange juice products that test at 10 parts per billion or higher for carbendazim, which is still a very low level.

As of Friday, the FDA said it has collected samples from 31 shipments. Twenty-eight are still pending analysis, but three shipments of orange juice and orange juice concentrates were negative for carbendazim, and will be released by the FDA.

What is carbendazim? Carbendazim is a chemical fungicide that is legal in most parts of the world, including Canada, Japan, Europe and Brazil.

The FDA said that industry reports indicated the carbendazim was in orange juice products from the 2011 crop in Brazil, where the fungicide is used to combat a type of mold that grows on orange trees known as black spot.

In the United States, however, the Environmental Protection Agency has not approved the use of carbendazim as a fungicide, and under U.S. law, it’s considered an unlawful pesticide chemical residue.

Is carbendazim dangerous? The EPA has conducted a preliminary risk assessment on carbendazim and determined that levels under 80 parts per billion (ppb) in orange juice do not raise safety concerns.

In the original tests, Coca-Cola (, Fortune 500) detected between 10 ppb and 35 ppb in orange juice products of its own and those of its competitors. Coca-Cola makes Minute Maid, Simply Orange and Odwalla.

However, the EPA is continuing to conduct risk assessments, and said it will have more results next week.

How much orange juice comes from Brazil? About 75% of all orange juice consumed locally is supplied domestically, and the rest is imported, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

However, of the remaining juice that is imported, Brazil is the largest contributor. In 2010, the South American country shipped over 171 million gallons of orange juice to the United States, accounting for more than 56% of all orange juice imports that year.

But overall, only 11% of all orange juice consumed in the U bad credit personal loan lenders.S. comes from Brazil, according to the USDA.

U.S. companies import orange juice from Brazil because of unpredictable weather conditions in Florida — hurricanes and freezing temperatures — which can negatively impact that state’s orange crops.

Is is possible that the orange juice in my fridge has carbendazim? Yes. But because the levels of carbendazim that have been detected are not harmful, the FDA said it has "determined that requiring a recall or the destruction of orange juice products" is not necessary.

In fact, the competitor products that Coca-Cola tested were "currently marketed finished products," meaning they were purchased off grocery store shelves.

Tropicana orange juice, which is owned by PepsiCo (, Fortune 500), contains orange juice from the U.S. and Brazil, according to package labels. But the company said it made an "unrelated decision some months ago" to transition to 100% Florida orange juice for its Pure Premium juices, which do not include orange juice concentrate.

Tropicana said it is already the largest buyer of Florida oranges, so the transition only requires a "minor supply chain adjustment" that will be completed by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, PepsiCo’s Naked Juice products are made only from oranges grown in the United States, the company said.

Similarly, Florida’s Natural, which competes with Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s orange juice products, prides itself on only using oranges that are grown by U.S. farmers in Florida.

Trader Joe’s said that although its orange juices are only made with oranges sourced from Florida, California and Mexico, its orange juice suppliers are conducting additional testing in light of recent concerns.

The FDA has confirmed that it is also testing samples of finished orange juice products and orange juice concentrates at domestic manufacturers, and said the sampling and analysis will be completed in the next few weeks. The agency said if it identifies a brand of orange juice that presents a public health risk due to levels of carbendazim, it will issue a recall.

How will this affect orange juice prices? On Tuesday, March orange juice futures spiked almost 10%, or 20 cents, to $2.07 a pound on the ICE Futures Exchange, which traders said was the highest level since 1977.

Futures reversed course on Wednesday, 9%, to $1.881 per pound. And on Thursday, orange juice futures retreated another 5.6%. On Friday, futures popped 8%.

Traders say huge spikes in orange juice futures could result in price bumps at the grocery store.

Coca-Cola said it could not comment on whether the discoveries would affect pricing of its orange juice products.  

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It was pretty clear from the start that this week’s news that Saudi Arabia is buying 84 new F-15 fighters from The Boeing Co. would have a big impact on the St. Louis region.

Today, the Regional Chamber and Growth Association took a stab at counting just how big.

While the $30 billion deal is not expected to create any new jobs, it will prolong production of the F-15, which is largely built at Boeing’s plant in north county, by about five years, through 2020.

That production supports about 1,000 manufacturing jobs at Boeing, and contribute to nearly 4,000 more through local suppliers and spinoff activity, according to RCGA economist Ruth Sergenian. Those direct jobs generate $1.1 billion a year in wages and other economic activity, and the indirect impact is another roughly $1.8 billion.

It’s worth noting that these sort of estimates are notoriously rough, and that something else might well fill the void were Boeing’s F-15 production to go away. But, for now, it’s not, and 2.9 billion more dollars flowing through the region’s economy every year is a pretty good thing.

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British tour operator Thomas Cook said Wednesday it will close 200 stores after tourism to Tunisia and Egypt dried up in the wake of the protests earlier this year.

Europe’s second largest tour operator said it will cut 661 jobs and close 115 of its stores immediately, with the remainder going over the next two years.

The group also reported its final year results Wednesday, after postponing their release as it sought new agreements with its creditors. It said its operating profit fell 16 percent to 303.6 million pounds ($471 million).

The company said it has already begun selling off 200 million pounds worth of assets and will suspend dividend payments until the balance sheet improves.

Thomas Cook said it had been hit by several external shocks in the last few years. It suffered badly when the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland shut off European airspace in April 2010.

It also said that the Arab Spring had resulted in a dramatic fall in travel to Middle East and North African destinations and that its operations in Britain and France had underperformed as its traditional customer base of families with young children who holiday in its all-inclusive beach resorts decided to stay home instead.

Thomas Cook shares were down 7 percent to 13.75 pence in morning trading.

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Joe Reagan, president of Greater Louisville Inc., has been hired as the new president and CEO of St. Louis’ lead economic development organization.

The Regional Chamber and Growth Association announced Monday that it has hired Reagan to replace Dick Fleming, who is set to step down at year’s end. The 48-year-old Indiana native has run Louisville’s largest economic development group since 2005.

“Joe brings to the RCGA a strong professional background in successful chamber management, regional economic development, public policy development and implementation,” said Ameren Corp. CEO Tom Voss, who chairs the RCGA board. “His career accomplishments and integrity have earned him the respect of both business and governmental leaders in the greater Louisville region and throughout the nation overall.”

Reagan’s name emerged as a finalist last week, with rumors that business leaders in Louisville were raising funds to try and keep him. He was reportedly one of two finalists - the other being Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, director of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

In announcing Reagan’s hiring, RCGA pointed to a list of accomplishments in Louisville that may translate to St. Louis. Among them: Helping a two-state, 26-county region work together around economic development; boosting focus on educational attainment, entrepreneurship and industry clusters; and spearheading efforts to modernize a Ford plant to keep auto industry jobs in the region.

“Joe Reagan is, without question, one of the top chamber and economic development executives in the country,” said Danny Ludeman, ceo of Wells Fargo Advisors and RCGA’s chairman-elect.

A conversation about the role of RCGA has heated up in recent weeks, as both St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and a study conducted for the St. Louis County Economic Council have called for significant changes to its mission and business model. But RCGA leadership have said they plan to maintain the group’s focus as both a chamber of commerce and economic development agency.

RCGA said it considered nearly 200 people during its nine-month search. Reagan is set to start Feb. 1.

“I appreciate the opportunity to serve an organization that believes that results-oriented collaboration among business, civic and elected leaders is critical in driving economic development and improving quality of life in the St. Louis bi-state region,” he said.

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President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s agreement to step down failed to halt anti-government demonstrations or prevent violence Thursday as regime supporters killed five protesters demanding that the ousted leader be put on trial for crimes ranging from corruption to bloodshed during the current uprising.

Saleh signed the U.S.-backed power-transfer deal, brokered by neighboring countries, Wednesday in the Saudi capital Riyadh in exchange for immunity from prosecution. It sets in motion a number of changes designed to stop the uprising that has battered Yemen’s economy and caused a nationwide security lapse that al-Qaida linked militants have exploited to step up operations.

Saleh passed his presidential duties to his vice president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, effectively ending his 33-year rule. If the deal holds, he’ll be the fourth leader to lose power in the wave of Arab Spring uprisings this year, following longtime dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

In the coming days, the opposition is supposed to name a prime minister, who will be sworn in by Hadi. The prime minister will then form a national unity government, evenly divided between the opposition and the ruling party. Hadi also is to announce a date for presidential elections, to be held within 90 days.

Observers note that the deal does not include a number of Yemen’s biggest power brokers, including Saleh’s relatives who head elite security forces, powerful tribal chiefs and military commanders who have joined the protesters.

Many of the protesters, who have camped out in public square for months to call for sweeping democratic reforms, rejected the deal immediately, saying the opposition parties that agreed to it were compromised by their long association with Saleh.

Thousands took to the streets again Thursday in the capital Sanaa, the central city of Taiz and elsewhere, protesting the deal and calling for Saleh to be tried for charges of corruption and for the killing of protesters during the uprising.

They chanted “No immunity for the killer” and vowed to continue their protests.

Security forces and government supporters opened fire on Sanaa’s main protest camp Thursday, killing five protesters with live ammunition, said Gameela Abdullah, a medic at the local field hospital.

A video posted online by activists showed men in long robes and Arab head scarves firing assault rifles at protesters, who scramble for cover. Some throw rocks and carrying large pictures of Saleh payday advance low fees.

“We’ll keep fighting until Saleh is tried for all the crimes he has committed against the people in his capacity as the head of the armed forces,” said activist Bushra al-Maqtari in Taiz, which has seen some of the most violent crackdowns on anti-regime protesters. Hundreds of demonstrators have been killed nationwide since January.

Abdullah Obal, a leader in the coalition that signed the deal, said the opposition intended to meet with protest leaders to address their demands.

“The agreement does not cancel the youth’s demands or go against them,” he said. “It is their right to protest.”

Some doubt that the deal marks the end of political life for Saleh, who has proved to be a wily politician and suggested in remarks after the signing ceremony that he could play a future political role in the country, along with his ruling party. He had agreed to sign the deal three times before, only to back away at the last minute.

Saleh had stubbornly clung to power despite nearly 10 months of huge street protests in which hundreds of people were killed by his security forces. At one point, Saleh’s palace mosque was bombed and he was treated in Saudi Arabia for severe burns.

“The signature is not what is important,” Saleh said after signing the agreement. “What is important is good intentions and dedication to serious, loyal work at true participation to rebuild what has been destroyed by the crisis during the last 10 months.”

International leaders who had long pushed for the deal applauded Saleh’s signature, many hoping it would help end a security breakdown that has allowed Yemen’s active al-Qaida branch to step up operations in the country’s weakly governed provinces.

President Barack Obama welcomed the decision, saying the U.S. would stand by the Yemeni people “as they embark on this historic transition.”

King Abdullah also praised Saleh, telling Yemenis the plan would “open a new page in your history” and lead to greater freedom and prosperity.

Italy’s foreign minister, Giulio Terzi, lauded the agreement and called for an end to violence.

“Now it is necessary that the accord is fully implemented and that all violence cease,” he said.

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Gilead Sciences says it will spend $11 billion to buy drug developer Pharmasset at a price more than 88 percent over the stock’s latest closing price in a bet on its experimental hepatitis C treatments.

Gilead says it will pay $137 per share in cash for each Pharmasset share. That stock closed at $72.67 on Friday.

Pharmasset said earlier this month it had started late-stage clinical trials of an experimental hepatitis C drug. It also plans two other late-stage trials in 2012.

Hepatitis C is a viral infection that often has no symptoms but which can lead to life-threatening liver damage.

Gilead will pay for the deal with cash on hand, bank debt and senior unsecured notes. It expects the acquisition to close in next year’s first quarter.

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With its stock down about 65 per cent this year, Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, has no shortage of unhappy shareholders.

But few of its investors have sought and received as much attention over the past few months as Victor P. Alboini, the chairman and chief executive of Jaguar Financial.

In several interviews since June, Alboini has called for the replacement of RIM

Tropical Storm Sean continues to weaken after passing Bermuda and heading northeast into the Atlantic.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Friday evening that Sean had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph). It was about 300 miles (483 kilometers) northeast of Bermuda and moving northeast at 30 mph (48 kph).

Forecasters had discontinued the tropical storm warning for Bermuda.

Little change in strength is expected before Sean is absorbed by a frontal system Friday night or Saturday.

Swells generated by the storm also are affecting Bermuda with life-threatening surf and rip currents. The swells should subside in a day or two.

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