Hi everyone. New to the board, not new to raw...

So, Starbucks is hopping on the health bandwagon with the acquisition of Evolution Fresh. Personally I'm big on making my own juices or supporting my neighborhood health food store, but this healthful option in the coffee-drinking world is a good thing. I don't know yet if they are using organic produce.

My question is about the technique they are using for extracting juice called "High Pressure Processing" or "High Pressure Pasteurization" (HPP). It uses hydrostatic pressure which is supposed to keep nutrients intact while "inactivating" microorganisms without the use of heat.

Here is an explanation I came across,
"Within a living bacteria cell, many pressure sensitive processes such as protein function, enzyme action, and cellular membrane function are impacted by high pressure resulting in the inability of the bacteria to survive. Small macromolecules that are responsible for flavor, order, and nutrition are typically not changed by pressure".

The description "flash pasteurization" puts up a red flag for me but it seems with the minimal heat generation, the enzyme and nutrient degradation would be less. Can anyone tell me the advantage or disadvantage of this process and is it similar to the technique used in the Norwalk hydraulic press?

Thanks!

anyone?

anyone?

anyone?

Proprietary process, perhaps? I've never heard of it, but it seems plausible, based on what I know of microbe biology(I am not a scientist). I imagine if the FDA allows it--Starbucks is a commercial food service--it would have to conform to heat based pasteurization standards. Here's the scoop:

[en.wikipedia.org]

Thanks T - that was a good link. It's pretty much what I suspected. Some of the good bacteria and enzymes will be compromised in this process. I would be interested to know how much compared to other methods.

reminds of of a diesel engine. sure the heat is less maybe than from combustion but it is still pressure heat that causes the fuel to explode.

life vs lifelessness



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2011 11:26PM by Diogenez.