How is clarified fruit juice preserved and packaged?

Clarified fruit juice is preserved primarily through thermal processing, specifically pasteurization, which destroys spoilage-causing enzymes and microorganisms. Before pasteurization, juice is typically deaerated to remove oxygen and minimize oxidative deterioration.1

Preservation Process

Pasteurization is commonly performed using plate-type heat exchangers, which allow for rapid heating and cooling. Typical processing conditions include heating the juice to 88 °C (190 °F) for 15 seconds, or 77 °C (171 °F) for one minute, followed by rapid cooling to 7 °C (45 °F). These treatments effectively inactivate enzymes like pectinesterase and polygalacturonase while destroying yeasts and molds.12

Packaging

After pasteurization, the juice is immediately moved to packaging lines. To ensure a shelf-stable product, the juice is often packaged under aseptic conditions to prevent recontamination. In aseptic processing, containers and machinery are sterilized using steam, sterile gases, or hydrogen peroxide before being sealed under sterile conditions. Alternatively, some juice is processed into concentrates by removing water via an evaporator, then packaged for later dilution by the consumer.213