HPP and the Death of Fresh Juice
What is HPP?
High pressure processing (HPP) is a non-thermal pasteurization process. Rather than using heat, HPP preserves and sterilizes food by applying very high pressure to it through a water bath that surrounds the product. Exposure times range from a millisecond pulse to a treatment time of over 20 minutes. The high pressure inactivates certain microorganisms and enzymes in the food, which slows the deterioration of foods by stopping the chemical activity caused by microorganisms.
The primary advantage of the HPP process is that it will reduce the level of potential pathogens that remain in the juice which come from the produce in its original pre-juiced form. HPP also dramatically increases the shelf life by making the juice stable and therefore easier to transport, hold, store, and sell. The shelf life of fresh cold pressed juice is two to four days. HPP juices can live on the shelf for up to 25 days.
The primary disadvantages of the HPP process are that juice formulas have to be formulated in a way which makes them suitable for the process (most deeply rich green formulas will not HPP well). Also, it is assumed that juice treated with HPP is not going to be consumed fresh. You can count on the fact that those “fresh” HPP juices have probably been sitting around in the storeroom, shipping truck, and supermarket shelves for a long time before you drink it.
While enzymes are not destroyed or killed in the HPP process, vital and good companion bacteria are destroyed. Whether it sounds creepy or not, bacteria make up much of everything we eat. They play a role in good nutrition. Enzymes cannot be killed, but they can be altered and thereby denatured.
Truly raw juice is filled with necessary and naturally-occurring prebiotic and probiotic organisms. Truly raw and unprocessed juices taste better, are the purest form of nutrition, and spoil on their own with no unnatural delays.
Controversial Issues around HPP Juice
The FDA does not require to label whether their juices were made with the HPP process. Companies are not required to tell you that their “raw” juices may be older than their natural life or that their “raw” juices are processed using HPP.
There are now class action law suits pending against major juice companies. The plaintiffs are suing on the grounds that they purchased what they believed was a raw, unprocessed, live, supreme-quality juice. HPP was never mentioned on the labeling and people feel duped.
I want to state that I personally don’t see HPP as evil. It could be used in positive ways. I’m not opposed to it in place of all traditional heat processes, which are far more destructive to enzymes and good bacteria than HPP. I see only positive in HPP if it’s used to serve “sort-of-fresh” juice to children in schools, patients in hospitals, soldiers on the battlefield, and anywhere heat pasteurization is mandated on a product in order for it to be consumed.
That being said, companies should be required to label bottles and food properly and they should pass cost savings on to the consumer. Don’t call it fresh and don’t put the word “raw” on the label if it’s been treated with HPP. Though HPP juice is technically raw, the use of that word on HPP juice is deceptive. The word “raw” is associated with a higher grade, truly fresh, and highly perishable product. HPP juice could be your third-best friend next to non-HPP juice and juice you make yourself at home.
More about Why Not to Choose HPP Juice
No matter how much you wash, you cannot wash certain dangerous bacteria off of the produce. E. coli is an example of such a bacteria.
The only way to destroy the bacteria is to cook it (pasteurization or other cooking methods) or HPP
If you want to protect yourself from bacteria on your food or produce, you must stop eating any raw produce of any kind!
Your body is 11% human cells and 89% bacteria. You’re designed to resist and cooperate with bacteria of all kinds. No matter what you think about germs and bacteria you can not and do not live in a sterile bubble.
The benefits of HPP are that sterile juices and foods will prove to be safer for the public at large in the short term. The disadvantages of sterilization will never be studied or measured as malnourishment is a subjective term in this country.
Sterilized juice does not help your body build anti-bodies and will not help you build an immune system.
Juice Press believes in a clean approach to a healthy lie. Their juices are 100% organic, 99% of the time. Juice Press refuses to use HPP or preservatives and delivers only the best, raw juice and smoothies for optimal nutrition. Juice Press now has 21 locations (and growing) in New York and offers fresh juice delivery services.
www.juicepress.comTwitter @juicepressny / Instagram @juicepress / Facebook @juicepressny
This article appears in ISSUE 26 of Healthy Juicing Magazine
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