Intermountain HPP Case Study

The pasteurizing effect of high pressure was recognized in the 19th century, when in 1899 Hite discovered the shelf life extension in milk using this process. However, it was not until the 1990s, that the first HPP products began to be marketed in Japan and Europe. In 2000, 10 years later, this technology became a recognized alternative to traditional food processing (thermal or chemical). The commercial success of this process was due to the design of equipment better adapted to industrial requirements, such as its horizontal layout and the growing demand by consumers for safe and more natural products.

From a legal point of view, high pressure processing technology is recognized by the main food authorities in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia…

In the United States, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) published a document in 2000 prepared by the IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) that endorsed HPP technology as an alternative to classic food preservation processes. Later, the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) published in 2003 the first document recognizing the efficacy of high pressures for the elimination of Listeria monocytogenes in a packaged meat product ready for consumption.

In Europe, the EC (European Commission) gave its first approval in 2001 for the marketing of HPP fruit products. In 2018, they published a document in which declared that “high pressure processing is a food transformation technology by which solid or liquid foods are subjected to high pressures to improve their safety and, in some cases, their quality and organoleptic characteristics”.

In Canada, Health Canada issued a statement in 2016 authorizing the marketing of HPP products without prior notification to the national health authority.