High Pressure Processing (HPP) is a relatively new process – not without controversy in terms of claims made for products, for instance, the FDA ruled in January that you can't call juice processed using the method 'fresh' – that involves applying extremely high pressure to a beverage sealed in its packaged to eliminate bacteria, yeast and molds.
Exponents claim that HPP can extend the shelf life of ‘cold pressed juice’ by up to ten times thus enabling wider distribution.
Announcing the news yesterday, Ganeden Biotech said its GanedenBC30 (Bacillus Coagulans GBI-30, 6086) was able to remain viable during the production process.
Three of Garden of Flavor’s current flavors – Green Harmony, Appleade and Turmeric Tonic – have been fortified with 1bn CFU (colony forming units) of Ganeden BC 30.
“We are constantly searching the world for the best ingredients to use when preparing our juices… and it was obvious to us that offering the variety of our organic, cold-pressed juices with the probiotic GanedenBC30 would add even more benefits to the recipes our customers are already enjoying,” said Lisa Reed, founder of Garden of Flavor.
Probiotic promise for brand
Asked why Garden of Flavor decided to add probiotics to its juices, she told BeverageDaily.com: “I enjoy seeing how my juice customers benefit by simply adding organic, uncooked and living juices to their lifestyles. We are always looking for vegetables, fruits and natural ingredients for our juices that offer benefits for our bodies as well delicious and unique flavors.
"Although I knew some of the benefits of probiotics, I had no idea until recently just how many benefits probiotics offer. The more I learned about the benefits of probiotics the more I started thinking about how we can incorporate them into our organic juices," she added.
"Once we determined that we could offer our juice customers deliverable, usable probiotics and increase the benefits of some of our organic, cold-pressed juices, we immediately decided to do it," Reed said.
To be honest, I never thought about how adding probiotics would add value to the Garden of Flavor brand, I just wanted to make the healthiest, most beneficial and delicious cold-pressed juices available for my customers who want to look and feel their best and I feel by doing that the brand takes care of itself.”
Garden of Flavor has distribution across Ohio and Michigan, including some outlets of Whole Foods Market.
'Cold-pressed juice craze is huge'
Speaking to this website, Erin Miller, marketing manager at Ganeden Biotech, described the cold-pressed juice craze as "huge right now, and I believe that what we’ve found on the survivability of GanedenBC30 in a cold pressed juice is going to change the industry by allowing HPP products to be fortified with our probiotic".
"Not only are consumers getting their raw fruits and vegetables, but they are now able to benefit from the functional benefits of probiotics. Probiotics are typically seen as only something in a pill or in yogurt. This only adds to the visibility of a probiotic that can survive through virtually any manufacturing process.
Miller agreed that Garden of Flavor was not a massive brand, but said the market potential was massive and that Ganeden expected to see similar applications in the future, given that the BC30 inclusion enables brands to make probiotic digestive and immune structure/function claims.
"We typically tell our partners to keep it simple when making claims," she said.
"GanedenBC30 has been shown in numerous clinical studies to support digestive and immune health and that is the claim Garden of Flavor is using on their packaging. Consumers want the support and will learn they can get it from products containing GanedenBC30, but increasingly consumers simply want probiotic benefits and are not specifically looking at claims beyond the fact that the product contains it," she added.