January/February 2023 - 8

HIGH PRESSURE PROCESSING
opening our own facility, and we do all
the bottling ourselves. We do all the fruit
processing and everything here. We take it
to the toll processor to have them HPP it. "
While plastic remains the preferred
HPP medium because of its flexibility,
the packaging process recycles up to 95%
of the water used each cycle, Longfield
said. HPP also only draws electricity until
reaching the required 87,000 pounds of psi.
Nimocks is hopeful that packaging
 A high pressure processing machine by JBT Avure. Photo: JBT Avure
" Around 2000, we decided we've gone
about as far as we can with a shelf-stable
product, " he said. " This application for
HPP can only be beneficial and grow if
we look at it for refrigerated items. What
we have seen over the years is that it
has started to expand in a whole lot of
different categories, mostly because of the
fact that consumers wanted products that
were fresher-tasting without the chemical
preservatives, and they're looking for more
convenient items that they don't have to
get from the freezer section. "
One industry making visible use of HPP
is pet food, where the fresh, refrigerated
options popping up in television ads are
made with the technology.
" More and more companies now are
finding new ways to apply HPP, " Raghubeer
said. " Guacamole is well-established
worldwide. We have a lot of other products
similar to those types that are susceptible
to have food safety issues that are applying
HPP. ... Most of the hummus you get now is
an HPP product, because they can remove
the sodium benzene and sulfates, and give
the consumer a product that has all the
nutritional products intact but without
the chemicals. "
Another early convert to HPP was the
juice industry, which, like ready-to-eat
meat, was subject to federal regulations
requiring dramatically reduced bacteria
levels and longer shelf life.
Walter Nimocks had HPP in mind in 2016
when he started Just Juice, a company
featuring tropical juices such as pink guava,
papaya, and camu camu - a red/purple,
cherry-like fruit that is Nimocks' favorite.
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JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2 023
" I had first seen HPP in 2002, " said
Nimocks, who encountered avocado
halves in flexible HPP packaging that
could last for 45 days. " I remember
thinking at the time, 'I wonder if this
would work for juice?' "
" You have to take extra
precautions when it
comes to processing
fruits, processing juices,
managing temperature,
managing time, and of
course the HPP helps with
the quality aspect as well. "
- WALTER NIMOKS, JUST JUICE
Initially dissuaded by the cost of HPP
machines, which can exceed $3 million,
Nimocks discovered a toll processor near
his company's Houston headquarters.
Essentially contract manufacturers, toll
processors allow companies to test and
develop products without the capital
commitment needed for something like
an HPP machine.
" I spent the most of time looking for
someone that would bottle the juice for
us. That was really the hurdle that I had
to overcome, " Nimocks said. " I did find
a copacker that I worked with for about
the first seven or eight months, but I was
losing money with every bottle because
the costs were so high. So we ended up
advances can produce degradable
or compostable plastic capable of
withstanding HPP, but the method
remains the best solution for marketing the
product Nimocks first began envisioning
in the 1990s. Living in various South
American countries as part of a lifelong
career in the food industry, Nimocks fell
in love with both exotic fruits and his
wife, Norka, the Just Juice co-founder
who hails from Ecuador.
" It was very common for us to have
freshly made juice every morning, and it
was always something different, " he said.
" ... The thing that I've learned the most
since starting the business is on the QA
(quality assurance) side. Juice is its own set
of rules, and it's a very delicate product.
You have to take extra precautions when
it comes to processing fruits, processing
juices, managing temperature, managing
time, and of course the HPP helps with
the quality aspect as well. It allows us to
extend shelf life. "
HPP also has potential applications in
processing raw milk without destroying
its immunological properties, Raghubeer
said, and the technology could also see
increased pharmaceutical uses in areas
such as vaccine production.
It's a world of possibilities Kurt Penn
foresaw nearly two decades ago, even
though Longfield said companies back then
scoffed at the idea of consumers paying a
few cents more per pound for a premium
category of hummus or guacamole.
" Cleary they were wrong, " she said.
" Like a lot of what we've seen in the
last five to 10 years, when you have a
company who is disruptive to a category,
the risk is high, but the reward is also
potentially great.
" That's really what we're doing now
with skin care, is disrupting the industry,
and you wouldn't be able to do this if you
did not have a technology like HPP. "
January/February 2023

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