What’s Happening to My Juice?

By Jessica Lancaster

High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP) is a technology that inactivates bacteria in juice without introducing heat or chemicals. Once juice is packaged in plastic, 80,000 lbs of pressure is applied to it in water chambers. This pressure is equivalent to 6x the pressure at the bottom of the deepest ocean and extends the product’s shelf life by tenfold, allowing many juice companies to expand distribution of their “raw” juices nationwide. 

We believe that true raw juice has a living energy that is integral to our product. We recognize there is an overwhelming amount of conflicting research on HPP and we have committed to never HPP our juices for the following reasons:

Product compromises

HPP effectively destroys pathogens such as E. coli without heat, however, the process requires an acidic pH to be effective. Studies have shown that a pH 4.5 or lower is required to inactivate these microbes. While HPP may maintain nutrients and enzymes, it does not work on deep green alkaline juices that have a pH of 7 or greater. We believe that deep green juices are vital to alkalize the body and support optimal health. We would never compromise our product in favour of processing methods!

Mixed evidence

Research highlights conflicting evidence on whether HPP’d juice has more or less vitamins and nutrients. Some scientists claim nutritional content will be very similar before and after HPP treatment. However, when evaluated microscopically, there is evidence of changes in cell structures. It has been confirmed that HPP can disrupt ionic bonds, and therefore denatures the proteins in fruits and vegetables. The HPP process also doesn’t differentiate between disease-causing and beneficial bacteria, which means we lose a lot of the important bacteria we need for proper digestion. Also, some studies have found no significant losses in vitamin C, while others have observed an 8% loss. Then there are studies that claim HPP doubles the level of antioxidants in fruit whereas others observed a decrease in antioxidants. Information on the pressure stability of vitamins such as B3, B12, Vitamin A, D, E, and K are still limited. With the overwhelming amount of conflicting evidence, we believe it is best to stick to raw 100% organic unprocessed juice, with nutrients intact and beneficial bacteria guaranteed by nature.

Conflicting values

We believe HPP takes the living raw energy out of food and presents it as fake fresh. We have taken steps to develop our supply chain, and are committed to delivering bakery-fresh cold-pressed juice, handcrafting maximum bioavailable nutrition and beneficial flora. We are at the food terminal every morning hand picking the finest 100% organic produce while supporting local farmers. We cold press daily in recycled glass bottles – which wouldn’t be possible with HPP. While HPP is an alternative to thermal pasteurization, we cannot stand behind it. We’ve done our research and we’ll stick with making raw juice the way nature intended. It’s that simple.

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