HPP Method
HPP - Method
In the modern food industry there are many different ways to increase the shelf life of products. One of the most gentle methods is the high pressure processing technique also called HPP. The HPP method destroys germs and bacteria by applying a huge amount of pressure on the products while it preserves vitamins and nutrients at the same time.
How HPP works
After pressing and mixing juices, they need to be bottled before you can apply the HPP method. First the bottles are placed in a basket and afterwards moved into the pressure chamber. The pressure chamber is filled with water and pressure of around 6000 bar is applied on the bottles. The pressure inside the chamber is actually five times higher than on the deepest point of the ocean.
Water serves as the pressure carrier, so first the pressure is applied on the bottle and then transferred to the juices. The biggest advantage of pressure is that it destroys bacteria and germs effectively and preserves vitamins and nutrients at the same time.
Duration of the HPP-method
The HPP method is used for all different kinds of food products. The amount of pressure applied and the duration differ for various kind of products. For our juices, a pressure of 6000 bar is used and the process takes around 6 minutes per basket. However, the baskets are quite small, so we need a few hours until all the bottles of one production day are treated.
Goals and advantages
The goal of the HPP method doesn’t differ from the one of other food preservation methods - to effectively increase the shelf life of the products. Most of the methods are using heat to kill bacteria and germs but along with them the highly heat-sensitive nutrients and vitamins are destroyed as well. The HPP method is more gentle and offers still the same level of effectivity: germs and bacteria are eliminated, but vitamins and nutrients preserved. So products treated by the HPP method contain more nutrients and vitamins than products which are pasteurized. Another benefit: The sensory characteristics like taste and consistency stay the same. So our juices offer you the taste of real fruit and vegetables.
Plastic
To increase the shelf life of our juices, we apply pressure of 6000 bar during the high pressure processing. We want our products to be safe, this is why we have decided to use plastic bottles. Plastic is the perfect pressure carrier. It is impossible to use glass bottles, neither would they transfer the pressure to the juice, so germs could be still inside, nor would they endure the pressure. Glass would simply break. Either way we couldn’t guarantee a safe product by using glass bottles. With plastic this can’t happen: the material transfers the pressure to the juice and it doesn’t break under the pressure. So plastic is the reason why we can offer you a preserved and safe product.