Noting the growing trend for healthy juice drinks, South Wales-based Fruitapeel has recently agreed with Hiperbaric in Spain to purchase the Hiperbaric 420 (the second largest high pressure processing (HPP) machine in the world) and install this at their juice processing plant.
We are a premium juice and smoothie manufacturer who has invested heavily since inception in 2006, growing our business from nothing to nearly £18 million today.
We are the third largest fresh citrus juice manufacturer in the UK and we intend to educate the market to the benefits of freshly squeezed juices with longer life created by the HPP process.
What makes us different from the current HPP market place is that we are a UK manufacturer; we develop, manufacture and pack on site all of our own products and from April 2015 will be high pressure processing at the site. This will allow the company to bring the true cost of the HPP supply chain to levels more affordable and accessible to the mass market.
The current costs involved in the HPP supply chain are excessive and this is because no one in the UK is manufacturing and HPPing at the same site; so not only are costs inflated, but the carbon footprint of the existing route to market is larger than necessary.
I saw the rise of juice bars and of HPP for the first time last year in California and can say that it tastes as good on the last day of its shelf life as the first.
We produce juice in a number of formats, from 150ml shots to 250ml, 500ml polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and 1l cartons. These are sold as bulk pallets or Pallecons of 1 tonne.
Orange juice extraction is the company’s core market and with HPP treatment, orange juice keeps its flavour and nutrients for up to 42 days without heat treatment, when in the past this was just 21 days.
This new Hiperbaric machine is quite some size – it is 17m long by 6.5m wide and 5.5m tall. The shelf life all depends on the time in the machine and the pressure used – it can be up to 3-4 months. Orange juice is the easiest on which to extend the shelf life as it is acidic and so lasts longer. Coconut water is more difficult as the pH is higher, being alkaline, and needs to be lower than 4.2pH to last well. Importantly, without pasteurisation, coconut water lasts 11 days but can last up to 60 days with hyperbaric treatment. We can give cartons of orange juice that used to last 21 days up to 12 months of shelf life.
Some manufacturers use ascorbic acid to change the PH, while others heat treat using UHT at 130 degrees and others pasteurise at 86-87 degrees. High pressure processing means it is cold all the way through the high pressure process with a maximum temperature of no more than four degrees.
How do you add value as far as the consumer is concerned? That was the question we asked when juice was becoming just a commodity with prices falling through the floor. Our USP now is HPP and filling and packing into PET on site.
Today we have 85 people at the plant in Llantrissant in South Wales. HPP is a trend and that is the bare fact. Before last year it was a small undeveloped market but thanks to the excellent taste results it is one that is rapidly gaining pace. We are delighted to be at the forefront providing a window into the future of juice – we think because of the unparalleled taste there will be a lot more HPP juice around in 3-5 years from now.
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