HPP services provider is now known as Universal Pure

The two entities formerly known as Universal Pasteurization and Universal Cold Storage now are under one name.

It’s been a busy few weeks for the nation’s largest provider of high pressure processing (HPP) and cold storage services formerly known as Universal Pasteurization and Universal Cold Storage. The company is now known as Universal Pure, and on the heels of this change, it hosted the HPP Summit from October 2 – 4, 2017 at the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel and Conference Center.

The change is to reflect its long-term commitment to advancing the safety and quality of foods and beverages. The company says it will continue to provide HPP processing, cold storage and all of the same pre-HPP and post-HPP value-added services to help companies bring products produced via this non-thermal processing method to market.

Along with this new name, the company also introduced a new website, www.universalpure.com, designed to serve as a hub of information about HPP.

FE asked Universal Pure CEO Mark A. Duffy for more details.

FE: What are the benefits of combining the two names? Has anything changed with the goals/structure of the organization?

DUFFY: Universal Pasteurization and Universal Cold Storage have always operated under the same management with the same goal - to help ensure the safety and quality of foods and beverages from the beginning of the cold chain all the way to the customer. Changing to Universal Pure allows us to more clearly and accurately communicate our mission to always look ahead to advance the safety of what we eat and drink. Our new name reflects our legacy reputation with Universal and intentionally messages the importance of integrity, quality, and safety with Pure. As the leader in the third party outsourcing network of HPP and other pre-HPP and post-HPP value-added services, we will utilize our name change as a platform to provide thought leadership and advocacy of the many benefits of high pressure processing.

FE: Will this help to provide more HPP services? How?

DUFFY: We believe it will! Universal Pure strengthens our platform to educate the marketplace about HPP and educate new audiences about the technology. As Universal Pure, we will continue to message food safety, cleaner labels, food waste reduction, product development innovation and other HPP benefits to serve the food and beverage industries.

FE: What are some of the pre-HPP and post-HPP services that Universal Pure will provide?

DUFFY: We've long offered, and will continue to offer a full set of value-added services to customers beyond HPP including cold storage, repackaging, kitting, dry and wet tempering, ink jetting, code dating and more.

FE: What are some of the trends of HPP?

DUFFY: The HPP industry is growing every year and it is projected to grow approximately 15 percent per year for the next seven to 10 years. As the largest outsourcer of HPP services globally, we're also feeling the effects of that growth and we expect to continue growing by double digits, year-over-year.

As more and more producers embrace implementing HPP into their food safety and quality systems, the importance of standard safety testing and validations grows as well. On the consumer side, retailers are putting more and more focus on products in the perimeter of the store leading to a wide variety of product innovation that prioritizes refrigerated, fresh foods and beverages, many of which that can benefit from High Pressure Processing.

FE: How will Universal Pure continue to grow the HPP market?

DUFFY: As the largest outsourcing provider of HPP services globally, we feel strongly that we have an obligation to advance understanding for the technology and educate companies about the benefits of HPP and how to utilize it effectively. We recently hosted the 2017 HPP Summit to provide an opportunity for food and beverage manufacturers, retailers, food service companies and others to gain and share knowledge about the technology. We are also a founding member of the Cold Pressure Council, which aims to lead, facilitate and promote industry standardization, user education and consumer awareness of High Pressure Processing.

Additionally, our new website has a resource section that will contain whitepapers and webinars to help communicate the positive impact HPP can have for food companies. Finally, as a third-party service provider, Universal Pure enables companies to efficiently and effectively capitalize on the benefits of HPP by outsourcing their needs.

We recently hired food and beverage industry veteran Tom Pontikes to help grow our business and encourage food producers, food service organizations and retailers to utilize HPP to benefit their respective businesses and consumers.

Debra Schug was Editor-in-Chief of Food Engineering. She began her media career over a decade ago writing and producing broadcast news for both television and radio at the local and national level. She spent many years as the managing editor for two trade magazines in the oil industry and the research editor for an annual petroleum report. She has a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Iowa State University.

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