Process guide
HPP Co-Packers in the US: Tolling vs Fill+HPP (Juice, Dips, RTE)
Use HPP when the SKU is refrigerated juice, smoothie, dip, guacamole, baby-food pouch, or RTE that must stay cold. Not ambient. Spores survive HPP — this is not shelf-stable.
Tolling: you fill elsewhere; the plant runs the cycle. Fill+HPP: one roof blends, fills, and HPPs.
Psi, 5-log, spores, the full comparison table, and packaging physics sit in the textbook below.
HPP co-packers
8 plants (or plant groups) that publish a US HPP copack or tolling page. Stay Fresh Foods is omitted as a listing: Universal Pure acquired it 1 Jul 2019 (Universal Pure press release); Meriden is now a Universal Pure fill+HPP site. True Fresh HPP (truefreshhpp.com) resolved as a domain-for-sale page on fetch — omitted. New Mexico Fresh Foods’ own site was a private WordPress login — omitted. Hiperbaric is an equipment OEM, not a copacker; its “HPP Food Services” URL ranks because it is a customer story.
MOQ: only Universal Pure published a numeric band on the pages fetched (beverage copack 20,000 bottles/run). Everyone else: unpublished.
| Plant | City / state | Model | Formats | Certs (published) | MOQ | Site | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Universal Pure | Fill+HPP: Meriden, CT; Mira Loma, CA. HPP+cold chain also Lincoln NE, Villa Rica GA, Arlington TX, Malvern PA, Delphos OH (7 sites / 22 machines, vendor). | Both. Fill+HPP on CT/CA beverage lines; other sites toll. Vendor claim: “largest independent provider of HPP globally.” | Beverage: flexible pack, round/square 8–32 oz, cold-fill, non-carbonated; Meriden 15-head rotary. Network HPP also cups, pouches, proteins, dips, wet salads, baby food, pet food (not all filled in-house). | SQF III; “USDA licensed and FDA approved.” Organic / kosher / GF: unpublished. | Beverage copack 20,000 bottles/run. Tolling: unpublished. | Bottling · Locations | Aug 21, 2026 |
| Maryland Packaging | Elkridge, MD; Halethorpe, MD. Est. 2003. | Fill+HPP (also lists hot fill and cold fill). Vendor: largest HPP facility in the Mid-Atlantic; Avure 10 + two Hiperbaric 525s; up to 6,000 kg/hr. | Hummus, ranch, salsa, dips, smoothies, teas, cold-brew, juices, RTD, RTE, baby food. PET, pouches, sachets, tubes; glass listed segregated (not HPP-safe). | SQF (vendor score 98/100). Organic / kosher / halal / non-GMO described as available, not a current cert list. GF unpublished. USDA vs FDA room: unpublished. | Unpublished | HPP · Copack | Aug 21, 2026 |
| HPP Food Services | Buena Park and Wilmington, CA (Hiperbaric page; hppfs.com has no address). | Tolling, plus Buena Park pouching/bottling and Wilmington cupping. Hiperbaric: “HPP tolling leader in the greater Los Angeles area.” | Juices, baby food, dips, meats, RTE; PET bottles, spouted pouches, PET/PP cups, foodservice bags. | Wilmington SQF Level 2; Buena Park BRC (Hiperbaric page, not repeated on hppfs.com). Organic / kosher / GF unpublished. FDA/USDA unpublished. | Unpublished | hppfs.com · Hiperbaric | Aug 21, 2026 |
| Cal Pack Foods | Torrance, CA (22625 S. Western Ave.). 27,000 sq ft (Hiperbaric). | Fill, then refrigerated truck to HPP Food Services. Not a vessel owner on pages fetched. | Juice, smoothie, salsa, baby food, wet salads, soups, dressings, purees, dips, sauces. Bottling, pouching, cupping. | “Third-party audited.” Named scheme unpublished. | “Start small” — no number. | calpackfoods.com | Aug 21, 2026 |
| Green Plant | Hialeah, FL (4180 W 104th St, privacy policy). Hiperbaric datelines Miami. | Both. Fill+HPP under one roof and tolling. Hiperbaric vendor: Hiperbaric 420i; “largest toller in Florida”; up to 250,000 lb/day. | Bottles, pouches, jars. Juice, dips, sauces, dressings, RTE meats, seafood, baby food, pet food. | Own FAQ: “audited standards” (SQF/GFSI named as retailer expectation, not a plant cert). Hiperbaric bios: USDA-certified, organic, kosher — treat as secondary. | “Lower MOQs where possible” — no number. | HPP · Copack | Aug 21, 2026 |
| American Pasteurization Company | Milwaukee, WI; West Sacramento, CA. | Both. Pay-as-you-go tolling (claims first US commercial HPP toller, 2004) and on-site co-man. Will not manufacture SKUs that skip HPP. Juice fill may be in-house or referred. | Pouch/bag; squeeze pouch Milwaukee only. Post-HPP sleeve, date code, lidding, kitting. | SQF both sites. Organic / kosher / GF unpublished. HACCP for FDA and USDA-regulated customers. | Unpublished | APC · What we do | Aug 21, 2026 |
| Select Juice, LLC | Lancaster, PA (1879 Commerce Park East). | Fill + HPP as one of four methods (cold fill, hot fill, HTST, HPP). Beverage co-man, not a dedicated toller. | Non-carb juices, NFC, shots, purees, teas. Stock PET: 2 / 10 / 12 / 14 oz, 1 L, 2 oz Boston Round; 25 oz HDPE. | USDA Organic, Non-GMO Verified, Kosher. SQF / GF unpublished on the HPP fetch. Juice-scope; rooms unlabeled FDA vs USDA. | Unpublished (contact form will not answer MOQ emails). | selectjuice.llc · Copack | Aug 21, 2026 |
| Youngstown Distributors | Reedley, CA. | Fill+HPP under one roof (press + HPP). | Cold-pressed juices, purees, smoothies; bottles 2–32 oz; shrink sleeve / PS; frozen drums; raw and HPP’d bulk. | SQF Level II. Organic / kosher / GF unpublished (“PUR Organics” is a brand name). | “Low Minimums” — no number. | Cold-pressed juice | Aug 21, 2026 |
On a small screen, scroll the table sideways. Cells are not smashed.
These rows are the same records as the directory HPP filter. Company cards do not invent fields the table left blank.
How to RFQ without wasting a month
Bring this, or you sit in “send us your deck” limbo:
- Process, already chosen. HPP, refrigerated, not hot fill. Attach pH, Brix/viscosity, Aw, and juice vs dip vs meat.
- Pack drawing. Resin, closure, induction seal, headspace, pre- vs post-HPP label. Glass → stop and redesign.
- Fill vs toll. “Blend and fill” or “arrive in finished cases.”
- Volume in units and pounds (first PO and 12-month).
- Certs you actually need. Ask for the current PDF. This table is not a live cert register.
- Inspection. Juice/dip = FDA. RTE meat = USDA. Which rooms?
- Validation. Who pays for the 5-log / Listeria study, which lab, and are you on their HACCP?
Request intro
Fresh Industries can request an intro to a plant in the table that matches your process, pack, and region. Open the company page and use Request an intro there. This is not an instant AI match and not an RFQ black box. You still send the brief. We do not broker commission on the run.
If your SKU is hot-fill, retort, or aseptic instead, do not force it onto this list. Use a different filter.
What HPP is, when to use it, tolling vs fill+HPP, pack, gaps, sources
Textbook
What HPP is (operator definition)
High Pressure Processing is a post-package, non-thermal food-safety step. Sealed product goes into a water-filled vessel. Cold potable water is pumped to roughly 87,000 psi / ~600 MPa and held for about 1–5 minutes. Pressure is isostatic (equal from all sides). Vegetative pathogens (Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli) plus yeasts and molds are inactivated. Flavor, color, and many heat-sensitive nutrients are retained better than in a cook.
Universal Pure, American Pasteurization Company (APC), Green Plant, Cal Pack, and Hiperbaric describe the same mechanics. It is not commercial sterility. Green Plant’s FAQ: HPP does not reliably inactivate bacterial spores, so it is not for shelf-stable low-acid foods. APC: HPP pasteurizes without sterilizing. Finished goods stay refrigerated through consumption (Universal Pure).
FDA juice HACCP’s 5-log pathogen reduction is the juice-side reason brands specify HPP. Universal Pure claims HPP is “scientifically validated to deliver up to a 5-log reduction”; Cal Pack says most of its products use HPP to obtain a 5-log reduction. USDA-FSIS treats HPP as a post-lethality intervention for RTE meats (Universal Pure FAQ; Green Plant FAQ). Your plant still has to validate the specific formula. There is no blanket FDA pre-approval of “HPP” as a process.
When to use HPP vs hot-fill vs retort vs aseptic
Use this as a first-pass screen before you contact a plant. Heat paths below are general process facts, not a plant quote.
| If your SKU is… | Use | Why | Do not send it to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refrigerated juice, smoothie, shot, hummus, guacamole, salsa, wet salad, baby-food pouch, RTE dip | HPP | Cold process. Vendor shelf-life: Universal Pure 2–3×; Green Plant ~2×–8×. Pack must flex. | Hot-fill-only (if “never heated”) or retort (if ambient). |
| High-acid beverage or sauce that can take heat and must be ambient | Hot fill | Heat + hot fill + cool-down vacuum. Glass or hot-fill PET. Cheaper logistics than a cold chain. | An HPP toller (they will not make it shelf-stable). |
| Low-acid meal, soup, or protein that must be ambient / commercially sterile | Retort (can, pouch, tray) | Scheduled thermal process after seal. Handles spores. Texture is cooked. | HPP. Spores survive HPP. |
| Ambient beverage, UHT-ok | Aseptic / ESL | Heat-treat, then sterile fill. Different capital than an HPP vessel. | HPP juice houses unless they also run HTST (most here do not). |
| Frozen, dry, or low-Aw | Not HPP | Pressure needs free water. Universal Pure: dense/dry products crush; product must be tempered above 32°F. Green Plant: dry foods “generally no.” | Any HPP house except as a hard no. |
| Carbonated, glass, can, or carton | Not standard in-pack HPP | Universal Pure beverage copack: cold-filled, non-carbonated, flexible pack only. | In-pack HPP lines. |
On a small screen, scroll the table sideways — cells are not smashed.
Operator rule: cold-pressed / never-cooked / short deck and a refrigerated set → HPP. Ambient retail → heat (hot fill, retort, or aseptic). Do not force hummus into retort, or low-acid ambient soup into an HPP toller.
Tolling vs integrated fill+HPP
Tolling (HPP only). You (or your copacker) fill elsewhere. Sealed cases arrive cold; the plant runs the cycle and returns HPP’d product, sometimes with labeling, kitting, or cold storage. Pay per cycle / per pound. APC claims it was “the first company in the United States to offer High Pressure Processing (HPP) on a commercial tolling basis.” Universal Pure’s non-bottling sites (Lincoln, Villa Rica, Arlington, Malvern, Delphos) are this model: HPP + cold storage + value-add, no beverage rotary fill listed.
Integrated fill+HPP. One roof (or a sister plant a few miles away) blends, fills, codes, HPPs, and case-packs. Universal Pure’s Meriden, CT and Mira Loma, CA sites combine rotary beverage fill with HPP. Maryland Packaging sells co-pack + HPP at two Maryland plants. Green Plant: “manufacturing, filling, labeling, and HPP under one roof.” Youngstown: pressing and HPP “under the same roof right on the farm.” Cal Pack Foods fills in Torrance and trucks product in its own refrigerated truck to partner HPP Food Services a few miles away — legally two companies, operationally one cold chain.
Package constraints and the cold chain after HPP
The pack has to flex. At HPP pressure, water (and the product) compresses about 15–18% by volume, then recovers (Hiperbaric; Universal Pure FAQ: “up to 15 percent”). Plants and Hiperbaric agree: PET / PP / PE / PA / EVOH work; glass, metal, paperboard, cans do not. APC also rejects styrofoam and “very lightweight or plant-based plastics.” Universal Pure beverage copack: flexible pack only — “no aluminum, glass, etc.”
After HPP, the product is still a refrigerated food. Universal Pure: products “must remain at specified temperatures throughout the process and up to consumption.” HPP is not a license to ship ambient.
Gaps (unpublished on the pages fetched 21 Aug 2026)
- Numeric MOQ for every plant except Universal Pure’s 20,000-bottle beverage-copack minimum.
- Organic / kosher / gluten-free as current, named certificates for several plants.
- USDA vs FDA room-level scope for most plants.
- Not a census of every US HPP vessel.
Sources
Fetched or searched 21 Aug 2026. Primary URLs are in the plant table and on each company page. Not used as a plant list: Penn State Extension copacker list; CoPack Connect parking-spaces.