Marketing or Reality?

How Are Cold-Pressed Fruit and Vegetable Juices Made?

EEditor Team•October 26, 2025

What Should I Know?

Traditional juices are preserved by heat (pasteurization), while cold-pressed juices use high pressure (HPP).
Cold-pressing helps retain more vitamins, flavor, and color.
Pasteurization kills microorganisms, but can cause nutrient losses and flavor/color changes.
HPP is more expensive and may be less effective at inactivating some enzymes.

Why Does It Matter?

Perceptions of “natural,” “nutritious,” and “fresh” depend on how juices are processed. Understanding these differences helps consumers interpret what the “cold-pressed” label really means and make more informed choices.

What Do the Rules and Science Say?

Conventional juice production process:

Washing, sorting, cutting
Pressing, centrifugation, filtration
Pasteurization (85–95°C / 185–203°F)
Storage

Pasteurization ensures microbial safety and enzyme inactivation, but at the cost of vitamin losses and changes in flavor and color. This is why alternative non-thermal methods like HPP were developed.

How Is It Made?

In High Pressure Processing (HPP), juice is subjected to pressures up to 600 MPa, which inactivates most microorganisms.

No heat is applied.
Nutrients and flavor are better preserved.
Some enzymes can survive this pressure.
The equipment is costly.

Why Does It Taste or Feel This Way?

Cold-pressed juices typically have:

Brighter color,
A fresher, fruit-like aroma,
A more natural flavor profile due to minimal heat impact.

These qualities are noticeable in both appearance and taste.

What Are the Common Misconceptions?

“Cold-pressed always preserves 100% of nutrients” – not true.
It does not eliminate all microorganisms; shelf life also depends on packaging and storage.
HPP cannot fully inactivate certain enzymes, which may lead to earlier spoilage.
Freshly squeezed ≠ Cold-pressed.

Why Are We Sharing This?

Because “cold-pressed” is often highlighted in marketing, but knowing the science behind the method helps consumers understand what they are really drinking—nutritional value, taste quality, and shelf life all depend on the processing method.

Prepared by Editor Team according to our Publishing Policy

Last revised on December 8, 2025.

References & Sources

Echavarría, A.P., et al. (2011). Fruit Juice Processing and Membrane Technology Application. Food Eng Rev, 3, 136–158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12393-011-9042-8
Ağçam, E., Akyıldız, A., & Dündar, B. (2018). Thermal pasteurization and microbial inactivation of fruit juices. Fruit Juices, 309–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-802230-6.00017-5
Lewis Lopes, S., et al. (2022). Cold-pressed fruit and vegetable juice pomaces... Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 6(10), 2542–2552. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2se00257d
de Souza, V. R., et al. (2020). Quality changes in cold pressed juices after high hydrostatic pressure. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 64, 102398. doi:10.1016/j.ifset.2020.102398
Yen, G.-C., & Lin, H.-T. (1999). Volatile flavor components of guava juice... Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 47(5), 2082–2087. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf9810057
Polydera, A. C., et al. (2004). Storage impact on antioxidant activity of orange juice. Int J Food Sci Tech, 39(7), 783-791. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2621.2004.00844.x
Ferrari, G., et al. (2010). High hydrostatic pressure for stabilization of functional foods. Journal of Food Engineering, 100(2), 245–253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2010.04.006