High Pressure Certified Seal Now Being Used on Foods

Logo expands from juices to guacamole; more products to follow

HPP seal — Good Foods guacamole and dips are the first foods besides some juices to feature the High Pressure Certified seal.

*Photos courtesy of Good Foods*

Good Foods guacamole and dips are the first foods besides some juices to feature the High Pressure Certified seal.

Photos courtesy of Good Foods

Good Foods guacamole and other dips are the first foods beyond beverages approved to advertise on the package that they’re made using high pressure processing (HPP).

The High Pressure Certified seal is being added to dip varieties with about 20 different SKUs, and a handful of other companies are working through the Cold Pressure Council’s independent audit process for approval to add the emblem, says Joyce Longfield, Good Foods Group vice president and council chairperson.

While the trade organization has a lot of work ahead to expand use of the seal and to inform customers about HPP, Longfield says council members are passionate about that job because of the clean-label benefits: inactivating pathogens in the final package without heat, preserving vitamins, maintaining fresh taste and extending shelf life without preservatives.

“We ultimately know that it (HPP) is so good for the consumers,” she says. “Being able to send home products that are safe and nutritious and healthy, who wouldn’t want that? And because we know we are delivering on that, we are very excited to persevere, and promote and educate consumers through the seal.”

Some cold-pressed juice makers already use the seal and explain HPP to consumers because their products’ shelf life increased in recent years from a few days to about a month. But other producers (deli meats are the technology’s biggest segment) wanted to avoid negativity from the word “processed” or didn’t see the need to promote the method.

“The label, that’s prime real estate. That seal really has to add value to that customer,” Longfield says.

The council, formed in 2017, is seeing growing interest in the seal as more companies adopt HPP and advertise its advantages.

The method is used on foods with higher water activity in packaging with some flexibility. Packaged products are placed in a vessel filled with water pressurized up to 87,000 PSI, six times more intense than the deepest part of the ocean, explains Lisa Wessels, chief marketing officer at JBT/Avure Technologies, a founding member of the council.

Emerging categories include soups, baby food, pet food, ready-to-eat meals and ingredients for restaurants.

“It’s the only seal out there that signifies that your food is safe. We really think that is going to be a great thing for it to propagate to more products,” Wessels says.

For more information, visit cpcouncil.org.

Rose Shilling is a previous managing editor of Food Engineering Magazine. She wrote feature stories on a variety of topics and tracked the food packaging industry. A journalist with an editing background at news services and newspapers, she also has driven editorial projects in health care and higher education.