The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers that it is very important to keep all carrot juice (including pasteurized) refrigerated at all times. This warning comes on the heels of three cases of botulism in Georgia believed to be due to the product not being properly refrigerated.

The health officials in Georgia, along with the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are closely monitoring and investigating the situation.

According to the Director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Dr. Robert Brackett, "Because botulism is such a potentially serious illness, we want to remind consumers that it is critical to refrigerate carrot juice for safety. Consumers should not keep carrot juice unrefrigerated."

On September 15, Georgia health officials announced that the three cases were isolated and they believe that they only occurred due to a lack of proper storage of the fruit juice. Other consumers of the same brand, who had purchased and consumed the juice within the same time frame, did not have any similar experiences with proper refrigeration.

Consumers should look be aware and look for the terms "keep refrigerated" or "refrigerate after opening" on all labels to know whether or not a product needs to be refrigerated.

In addition, temperatures of refrigerators/freezers should be occasionally checked with an appliance thermometer. The FDA advises that refrigerators should be kept at temperatures no higher than 40°F and freezers no higher then 0°F.