So, the juice was originally squeezed from oranges, then concentrated, then re-hydrated.
Wait, what? Why the concentration, and re-hydration? There has to be a reason.
Probably for shipping, which is usually based on size and/or weight. This way it can be squeezed at the farm/plant in Florida, concentrated, put into drums and on a pallet, then shipped to factories around the country to be rehydrated and bottled. The company can then ship the rehydrated (read: heavier and much bulkier) juice to the stores on shorter runs of a few hundred miles.
Shipping and storage costs. Water is heavy and shipping costs are high. Plus there is a huge difference in volume between FCOJ and fresh so storage costs are lower for the FCOJ. FCOJ is just easier to deal with and consumer demand is high so there is little incentive to keep the millions of gallons produced every day in fresh form.
OJ from the store would be labled “From Concentrate” if it went through this process.
Products like Tropicana’s “Pure Premium” do not get concentrated at any point. They cost more as a result, and one could argue that they taste better.
Yes, they are pasteurized however.