The selling point of cold pressing is that there is no heat treatment, and the same property makes the logistics demanding. In the US, the FDA juice HACCP rule (21 CFR 120) requires a process that achieves a 5-log reduction of the pertinent pathogen, and juice that has not been through it must carry a warning that it is unpasteurized. Without heat treatment, product properties, hygiene and the chain carry safety together; cold slows growth but does not by itself prove safety.
The number of days on the label is set on the assumption that the product stays within a temperature band from production to consumption. A few hours of warming in the chain breaks that assumption. The number is therefore validated for your own product and process by a microbiological shelf-life study; records do not replace it.
| Stage | What is recorded |
|---|---|
| Pressing and bottling | Start and end time, wait at room temperature |
| Moving into the chiller | Time in and product temperature |
| Dispatch | Loading temperature, departure time, box and coolant setup |
| Delivery | Arrival time, logger trace, product temperature |
The gap between the press and the chiller is the most sensitive interval, so the wait is seen by timestamp rather than estimate. Online, a box waiting a night in a sorting hub can undo the care taken in production; build the box, coolant and layout for the longest delivery time and the hottest season.
If a deviation occurs, the batch is not treated as saleable automatically; the record is set aside and the corrective-action steps of the food-safety plan are followed. The trial is repeated when the route or packaging changes.