The Winter 2012 Fancy Food show in San Francisco wrapped up this past Tuesday afternoon; while the overall number of beverage companies was light for the third year in a row (approximately 40), the stalwarts seeking specialty channel retailers and distributors were present – sparkling juices and juice, gourmet sparkling and still waters, coconut waters, coffee and teas, and gourmet CSDs. As in previous years, exhibitors said they were pleased by the density of the foot traffic and “meetings” with large influential retailers and wholesalers walking the aisles.

With the addition of former Vitaminwater president Mike Repole to the board of year-old multifunction beverage Body Armor, the second of three key executives on the team that grew and sold Glaceau to the Coca-Cola Co., Inc. is now back in the beverage business. Repole, has spent the past four years -- and his share of the $4.1 billion Coke paid for Glaceau -- breeding horses and growing both the Pirate's Booty snack brand and Energy Kitchen restaurants.

After nearly five years of using orange juice from a variety of sources, PepsiCo will return to using 100 percent Florida orange juice in its Tropicana Pure Premium products, according to a new report by Beverage Digest, an industry newsletter. The report comes only days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) halted shipments orange juice from Brazil while it tested for traces of carbendazim, an anti-fungal chemical banned in the U.S. Despite the FDA’s recent decision to halt Brazilian orange juice shipments, a PepsiCo executive said that the decision to return to 100 percent juice from Florida was made “some months ago.”