Adapting High Pressure To Your Operation

How to specify HPP equipment.

Tatiana Koutchma, PhD

By now we all know the benefits of high-pressure processing. But what many processors don’t necessarily know is that different types of specifications lead to different results. Do you want to pasteurize? Do you simply want to extend shelf life? What about added value? Here’s what you need to know before specifying HPP equipment. How do processors overcome the hurdles of each one regarding cost, consumer perception and maintenance issues?

Within the last decade, High Hydrostatic Pressure Processing that is often simply called as HPP (or HHP) has demonstrated its wide applicability for producing high quality foods. Key advantages of HPP such as instant and homogenous transmittance of pressure and the possibility of processing at ambient temperatures represented an attractive powerful tool to implement mild processing of meat products. Sliced ham, turkey or chicken cuts, ready-to-eat (RTE) products, whole pieces of cured ham, these are only some examples of products processed by HPP that can be found in the U.S. and international markets.