Report: High-Pressure Processing Puts Squeeze on Super Premium Juice

Juice products have come a long way from frozen concentrates and pasteurized concoctions. However, the quest to replicate "fresh squeezed" has been a challenge, as unpasteurized juice has a short shelf life and is vulnerable to bacterial contamination. In fact, after Odwalla experienced a product recall involving E. coli and a fatality, FDA stiffened its requirements of super premium juice (SPJ) companiesrequiring they demonstrate that their processing approach resulted in eliminating the presence of any harmful pathogens. Despite these challenges, consumer demand has persisted for healthier retail beverage options.

Flash pasteurization allowed SPJs to get back in the game with a less damaging way to pasteurize juice by using less heat during a shorter duration. Despite the compromise in taste and nutrient content versus unpasteurized juice, consumers responded positively to flash pasteurization for safety reasons. Today the SPJ category is approaching $2 billion in revenue and continues to grow annually at double-digit rates.

In "Juice Revolution," a free Report from SupplySide Beverage Insights, Shawn Sugarman, a natural food and beverage industry consultant, details how high pressure processing (HPP) technology has opened the door for widespread commercialization of a new breed of SPJ. A non-thermal, non-radioactive approach to killing dangerous pathogens, HPP is growing in popularitypartially due to the publicity surrounding the Starbucks acquisition of Evolution Fresh.

HPP works by applying extremely high pressure to a bottle of raw juicefilled and sealed in its finished packagethereby eliminating any harmful bacteria with no risk of recontamination. HPP can extend the shelf life of the juice from days to months and enables brand owners to sell cold-pressed juices more widely, making them available wherever refrigerated juices are offered. Although they're more than twice the price of most SPJs, HPP juices are on the verge of taking the market by storm.

For more information on the HPP juice market, click on the colored text link for access to a free report on sister site SupplySide Beverage Insights.