Harmless Harvest – the world’s first Fair-for-Life-certified Organic coconut water – is announcing a proprietary new multi-step micro-filtration process that achieves the highest levels of product safety and quality, while preserving optimal flavor, fragrance and nutrients of its critically acclaimed coconut water, which complies with FDA standards and requirements

San Francisco, CA – April 7, 2016 – Harmless Harvest – the world’s first Fair-for-Life-certified Organic coconut water – is announcing a proprietary new multi-step micro-filtration process that achieves the highest levels of product safety and quality, while preserving optimal flavor, fragrance and nutrients of its critically acclaimed coconut water, which complies with FDA standards and requirements.

This groundbreaking process builds upon Harmless Harvest’s history as an industry pioneer in the low-acid beverage category, and enables the company to introduce a new, more environmentally conscious bottle with an average of a quarter less plastic than previous bottles.

Currently, the primary industry method of ensuring the safety of low-acid juice beverages is thermal (heat) pasteurization. Thermal pasteurization is known to heavily heat (“cook or boil”) the product as a way to regulate safety, but it can leave a modified, burnt-like taste when used on coconut water.

According to the CEO of Harmless Harvest, Giannella Alvarez, the introduction of the Multi-Step Micro-Filtration process is a significant advancement for the industry. “With our move to our proprietary FDA-compliant Multi-Step Micro-Filtration linked to an aseptic filling and packaging system – as with every step we take as a company – it is our goal to drive the industry forward towards better products, better practices and more environmentally sustainable business models. We have an amazing team that is committed to bringing delicious organic food and beverages to consumers with a fair and sustainable business model that will change the industry as whole.”

Proving the company’s mantra that “the best can always be better,” this new Multi-Step Micro-Filtration, represents a groundbreaking “new method” of safe low-acid juice beverage production. Building upon the latest micro-filtration, extraction and bottling techniques from fields as diverse as pharmaceuticals and dairy, Harmless Harvest brainstormed, devised, developed and tested the Multi-Step Micro-Filtration process – ensuring it complies with FDA standards and requirements.

Harmless Harvest is an ecosystem-based business that believes in bringing consumers the best organic ingredients through a business model that centers on the welfare of all people in the supply chain – from plant to shelf – and makes the sourcing environment a core beneficiary of its commercial success. Each year they make a measurable impact on the sourcing communities and beyond, and are verified by third-party boards that ensure adherence to Fair-for-Life principles.

In developing this Multi-Step Micro-Filtration technology to Harmless Harvest’s exacting standards, key criteria had to be met:

1) An upheld commitment to Fair-for-Life and Fair-Trade principles

2) No use of heat pasteurization, which destroy nutrients, modifies the physico-chemical structure of the product and can give a “burnt” flavor

3) No use of acids, a common industry approach that results in reduced flavor and palatability

4) Complete confidence in product safety and quality

The introduction of the Multi-Step Micro-Filtration process, linked to an aseptic filling and packaging system, is the latest in a remarkable string of beverage industry ‘firsts’ introduced by Harmless Harvest:

* The first mainstream USDA Organic coconut water brand in the U.S.

* The world’s first coconut water to be Fair-for-Life certified (sharing the welfare they create with everyone in the chain of custody – from farmer to worker, everyone receives a fair wage and assured well-being).

* The first coconut water to exclusively use Thailand’s great-tasting Nam-Hom coconuts

* The first coconut water committed to being an “ecosystem-based business” that supports the people and planet through a product that truly “does good.” (In 2015, Harmless Harvest provided medical checkups to 776 farmers and their communities through its commitment to Fair-for-Life principles, and certified over 300 organic and Fair-for-Life farms.)

“We select the most fragrant and delicious coconuts, so naturally, it was important for us to develop a processing method that did not burn the compounds or risk losing the intended taste,” said Co-Founder Justin Guilbert. Douglas Riboud, co-founder, added “I am amazed and proud of the Team’s hard work, pioneering spirit and dedication – this has been brought to market at lightning speed.”

Harmless Harvest delivered the first-ever organic coconut water that is “Fair-for-Life” certified – meaning that it meets rigorous and independent standards for environmental sustainability and provides fair wages, healthcare and well-being assurance for every farmer and employee both abroad and in the U.S. Harmless Harvest’s ecosystem-based business model also includes investing in the Thai communities where their coconuts are grown. From seed to shelf, the team at Harmless Harvest is committed to sharing the welfare they create and touching more lives with clean, delicious, organic foods that are produced and traded with fair and sustainable business practices that promote social, agricultural and environmental progress.