Coconut Water Avoids Pasteurization with Micro-Filtration Method

Photo © iStockphoto.com/Floortje

While pasteurization may be a popular way to ensure safety and extend shelf-life of certain beverages, it poses several problems for coconut water. Thermal pasteurization can deplete coconut nutrients and introduce a burnt-like taste to coconut water, making it a troubling method for processing the increasingly popular beverage category.

With that in mind, coconut water-firm Harmless Harvest has introduced a new multi-step micro-filtration method that it posits as a “groundbreaking new method of safe, low-acid juice beverage production.” The new alternative process to pasteurization builds upon the latest micro-filtration, extraction, and bottling techniques without introducing acids, which can reduce flavor and palatability, according to Harmless Harvest.

Additionally, the micro-filtration method allows Harmless Harvest’s organic coconut water to be packaged in a more environmentally conscious bottle that uses an average of 25% less plastic than the previous bottles.

“With our move to our proprietary, FDA-compliant multi-step micro-filtration linked to an aseptic filling and packaging system-as with every step we take as a company-it is our goal to drive the industry forward towards better products, better practices, and more environmentally sustainable business models,” says Giannella Alvarez, CEO of Harmless Harvest.

The shelf life of Harmless Harvest’s coconut water has increased from 45 days to 60 days as a result of the new multi-step micro-filtration method, though the product requires chilled distribution to “protect the delicate coconut flavor and to limit enzyme activity,” Alvarez tells Nutritional Outlook.

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Michael Crane
Associate Editor
Nutritional Outlook Magazine
michael.crane@ubm.com