O mercado mundial de laranja possui duas regiões produtivas altamente significativas: Flórida (EUA) e São Paulo (Brasil). Juntas, essas regiões respondem por 40% da produção mundial da fruta e seus derivados. O Brasil, maior produtor e exportador de suco de laranja, detém 50% da produção mundial, sendo que apenas 3% ficam no mercado interno. O amplo consumo do suco de laranja deve-se ao sabor agradável conjugado às suas características nutricionais: é fonte de vitamina C, minerais e carboidratos, sendo, portanto, indicado para convalescentes, idosos e considerado importante complemento alimentar em dietas infantis. To assure the quality of these products, microbiological safety monitoring is needed, through measuring lactic acid bacteria (LAB), moulds and yeasts, total and fecal coliforms and total plate counts. These parameters were monitored for 50 fresh juice samples commercialized in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The samples were acquired and maintained under refrigerated conditions. Tests were also made for the detection of E. coli and Salmonella sp. The LAB and total plate counts were, for the most of the samples, higher than the expected. The fecal coliforms levels of 15% of the samples were above those permitted by law. The susceptibility patterns for fecal coliforms isolates were as the expected to environmental or fecal samples that were not under selective pressure.