At My Pet Carnivore, we never use High-Pressure Processing (HPP) on any of our foods. Period. If you’ve been looking for a truly raw option—one that doesn’t rely on a “kill step” after the fact—this is for you.
What is HPP?
High-Pressure Processing (HPP)—sometimes called cold pressure pasteurization—is a method that subjects packaged food to extremely high pressure (commonly 400–600 MPa) to reduce pathogens and spoilage organisms.
It’s popular because it can reduce microbial loads without heat, helping preserve the food’s “fresh-like” appearance and, to some extent, texture. Meat still looks pink, not cooked, but the texture is not completely unchanged. Picky eaters will know the difference.
Why do some “raw” brands use HPP?
There are understandable business reasons companies choose HPP:
Risk management: HPP can deliver large pathogen reductions (often discussed in “log reductions”), which lowers the odds of problems during distribution and handling.
Recall & regulatory pressure: Any raw-meat company lives under the reality of pathogen risk. A validated reduction step can reduce the chance of costly recalls, warnings, and disruptions.
Supply flexibility: HPP can make it easier to work with sources that may be higher risk, because the company is counting on a downstream intervention to compensate.
To be fair: HPP is widely used in human food, and when it’s properly designed and validated, it can be a meaningful safety control.
But here’s the part that often gets lost in the marketing…
HPP does not mean “zero risk”
Even regulators are explicit that it’s not technically possible to reduce microorganisms to zero—processes are designed to reduce risk dramatically, not create sterility.
And in other FDA guidance, similar non-thermal processes are described as not eliminating all pathogens of public-health concern (i.e., not equivalent to cooking/true pasteurization in the everyday sense).
So if you’ve felt uneasy about the promise of “pathogen-free,” you’re not crazy—risk can be reduced, but not erased.
Why My Pet Carnivore refuses HPP
We’re committed to truly raw nutrition—not “raw-ish.”
That means we prioritize: Trusted Sources & Ingredient selection, Clean handling, Rapid Freezing, Tight cold-chain discipline, Small-batch accountability …instead of leaning on a post-packaging intervention that, by design, is meant to inactivate microbial life.
1) HPP doesn’t just hit “bad bacteria”
HPP works by damaging cell structures and critical cellular components—membranes, ribosomes, and enzymes—so organisms can’t function normally.
That mechanism is not a sniper rifle. It’s a pressure event.
At the pressure levels used for preservation (often >400 MPa), HPP inactivates pressure-sensitive vegetative cells, which is specifically described as a limitation for foods that contain functional microbes such as probiotic or protective cultures.
Our stance: the natural microbial ecology—small in number, yes, but meaningful in function—is part of what makes raw raw. We don’t think it’s something to casually trade away and then wave off as “immaterial.”
2) Enzymes are not marketing fluff
A core reason many people choose raw is that they want food in a state closer to its natural form—including naturally occurring enzymes.
HPP can alter protein structure and inactivate enzymes depending on pressure/time/temperature and the specific enzyme.
Sometimes you’ll hear: “HPP doesn’t use heat, so enzymes are unchanged.” That’s an oversimplification. Pressure can change proteins too—just differently than heat does.
Our stance: if the goal is truly raw—biologically and functionally—we don’t want a process that can measurably reduce the very characteristics raw feeders are choosing in the first place.
3) “Minimal change” depends on what you value
Many summaries of HPP correctly note “minimal effects” on taste/texture/appearance and many nutrients. But raw feeders aren’t only chasing a vitamin panel and a color check.
They’re choosing raw because they care about: food in a more natural state, minimal intervention, and (for many) the idea that the “living” aspects of raw matter.
That’s the customer we serve. And if that’s you, we want you to have an option that doesn’t compromise the raw principle.
Raw diets and the carnivore design
One thing that often gets lost in the HPP conversation is this:
dogs and cats are not built like humans.
They are facultative (dogs) and obligate (cats) carnivores whose digestive systems evolved to handle fresh prey, not sterile food. That means:
Highly acidic stomachs that are hostile to many microbes
Short digestive tracts compared to omnivores, reducing the time pathogens have to multiply
Robust immune defenses adapted to a meat-based diet
In the wild, prey animals are not pressure-pasteurized. There is no “kill step” in nature. Yet wild canines and felines have thrived for millennia eating freshly killed prey, exposed to the normal microbial world that comes with it.
That doesn’t mean risk doesn’t exist. It means carnivores are biologically designed to manage it in ways that differ from humans. Responsible raw feeding still involves proper sourcing, clean handling, and good kitchen hygiene—but it does not require trying to make raw food biologically sterile.
This is part of why many raw feeders are uncomfortable with HPP. It treats raw meat like a human ready-to-eat product that must be pushed toward sterility, rather than a biologically appropriate food for a carnivore with the physiology to process it.
The bottom line
If you’re frustrated because a food you trusted is now “raw + HPP,” we get it.
My Pet Carnivore is committed to remain non-HPP.
Not because we’re trying to sound edgy. Because we believe raw nutrition should stay raw, and we’re willing to do the work to honor that commitment.
