The challenge
Consumer trends and fruit juices
New food and drink experiences, exciting flavours, healthier choices and convenient packaging are key ongoing consumer trends.
Food and beverage manufacturing companies are constantly striving towards meeting consumer demands such as these.
However, most fruit juices in the past were reconstituted, had preservatives added and were heat treated, which although makes juice safe to drink, can change the natural taste and colour of juice and destroy some nutrients.
Our response
The benefits of high pressure processing
A small Victorian company, Preshafood, worked with CSIRO to develop premium fruit juices that are pasteurised using high pressure processing (HPP) instead of heat.
HPP is an emerging technology that uses very high pressures to kill yeasts, moulds and bacteria.
The technology has the potential to extend the shelf-life of chilled perishable products and provide improved safety, taste, texture, quality, fresh-like characteristics and nutritional value, without having to use chemical preservatives.
CSIRO are world leaders in the development and implementation of HPP technology in not only juices but also across a range of product categories such as meat, poultry, seafood, fruit and vegetable products, meal solutions, dips and sauces.
In a world first, Preshafood started by manufacturing single variety apple juices such as Pink Lady, Granny Smith, Royal Gala and more in distinctive triangular shaped bottles.
The results
High pressure processing and Preshafruit juices
Owing to HPP, Preshafruit juices retain the taste, colour and fresh-like characteristics of fruit and can be stored up to five times longer than other chilled juices.
The company has expanded into seasonal juice blends, smoothies and vegetable juices, which are sold in supermarkets nationally. They are also increasing their sales in Asia, where the consumer demand for premium Australian food and beverages is high and there are still few similar quality juice products competing with Preshafruit juices.
The company has gone from starting life in our world class pilot plant in Werribee to recently expanding their investment in HPP technology and becoming the largest HPP operation in Australia, creating new jobs and growing sales both in Australia and in export markets.