Because of its clean label appeal, a number of customers, tolling facilities and High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP) equipment manufacturers have to come together to self-regulate their standards and qualities with the creation of A Cold Pressure, a program that includes the creation of an HPP logo and merchandising along the lines of The Non-GMO Project.

“Basically it’s a program put in place for companies that manufacture any type of HPP food or beverage, and then if they have that logo on their products, it tells the consumer that they’ve been reviewed to make sure that they’re actually meeting their food safety requirements,” says Joyce Longfield, applications and regulatory specialist for Hiperbaric, a manufacturer of HPP machines that is participating in the program. “We all know that not everybody plays by the rules, and that can really hurt an industry, because if one person has a recall it impacts everybody. We just don’t want to see that happen, especially because HPP is such a new and growing technology.”

The program will also feature a website geared entirely toward consumer education on the benefits of HPP. “We want to educate them as to the added step and cost that the manufacturer has gone through to make a product HPP,” Longfield says, “and that they’re providing their customer with the use of this technology in order to give them a better tasting, more nutritious, chemical free product.”

Nutrifresh, one of the largest tolling facilities in the country, is also a member of A Cold Pressure. “I really think that it’s great that some standardization is coming,” says Guy Ironi, chief operating officer of the facility. “When a consumer sees that sign, they know what it means. It’s going to take the ambiguity out of it, so that like organic or non-GMO, there is a certain standard that you need to stand up to. It’s going to be great for the brands and great for the consumers.”

For more information on HPP technology, visit www.coldpressured.org