Ensuring Safety While Preserving Raw Nutrition: Why We’re Using HPP on Our Raw Goat Milk

By Lindsay Meyers, Vice President of Food Safety & Quality Assurance

At Primal Pet Foods, our mission has always been clear: improve the lives of pets by nourishing their primal needs with safe, high-quality raw nutrition. As part of that commitment, we also prioritize food safety to ensure that our raw products are safe for your dogs and cats to enjoy. As such, we want to share an important update about one of our most beloved products – our Frozen Raw Goat Milk.

Adding an Extra Layer of Food Safety

We closely follow the guidance of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as it relates to food safety. Earlier this year, the FDA required manufacturers of raw dog and cat foods to reanalyze their food safety plans to include the avian influenza virus as a known or reasonably foreseeable hazard. The FDA has been strongly encouraging raw pet food manufacturers to take steps to significantly minimize or prevent the spread of the avian influenza virus through pet food products.

As a leader in the raw food category, we made the decision to start treating our Frozen Raw Goat Milk with High Pressure Processing (HPP), the same cold-water pressure technology we’ve used on our frozen raw foods for more than a decade. HPP is a non-thermal technology that has been proven to inactivate microorganisms, including viruses, with minimal influence on the integrity of the nutrients in foods. Based on literature published on the effect of HPP, viruses should be inactivated under our specific processing conditions. This is supported by current research, which indicates that HPP is effective at mitigating avian influenza when applied at appropriate parameters.

HPP helps ensure food safety by neutralizing harmful pathogens without the use of heat. This means your pets can continue enjoying the same look, smell, taste, and palatability they love, now with an added layer of safety.

This change has been rolling out gradually across our Frozen Raw Goat portfolio as inventory cycles through. Based on the organoleptic testing that we conducted before we added this food safety step, you and your pets shouldn’t notice any differences in the product.

Backed By Science: Preserving the Raw Benefits

HPP offers an effective way to ensure our Frozen Raw Goat Milk is safer while preserving the nutritional and organoleptic integrity of the product. Since HPP is a cold-pressure process, it is not the same as traditional pasteurization, which relies on heat and can alter the nutritional profile of milk.

Multiple peer-reviewed studies have evaluated the same components that give raw milk its unique value and benefits to pets such as bioactive proteins, immunological factors, vitamins, minerals, flavor, and texture. The science is clear: HPP preserves these important raw-like qualities.

Here are some specific examples:

• Protein and structure integrity: A study in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition confirmed that HPP maintains the natural microstructure of milk proteins (casein micelles and whey proteins). This structural preservation supports digestibility and keeps the raw-like texture intact.
• Nutrient and antioxidant preservation: Research consistently shows that HPP maintains covalent bonds, meaning no significant effect on vitamins, flavor, or pigment. For example, Saputra et al. (2025) reported that HPP maintained over 90% of essential vitamins (A, B-complex, C, D, E) and minerals like calcium and phosphorus.
• Bioactive compound retention: Ozaybi (2024) found that HPP preserved 100% of immunological components in human milk, while additional studies in the International Dairy Journal confirmed that HPP better maintains immunoglobulins than heat-based pasteurization.
• Sensory qualities maintained: A study in Food Research International concluded that HPP preserved pH, viscosity, color, taste, and overall “fresh-like” quality of milk (far better than thermal processing).

Together, this growing body of research shows that HPP offers the best of both worlds: effective food safety with preservation of the raw nutrition and sensory qualities that matter most.

Transparency in Labeling
In compliance with AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) labeling guidelines, we are required to include the raw milk warning statement on our packaging, which reads:

“Warning. Not for human consumption. This product has not been pasteurized and may contain harmful bacteria.”

This language was developed before food safety technologies like HPP existed. While we comply fully with current regulations, we also recognize that this labeling framework does not reflect the added safety that HPP provides. That’s why we are actively engaging with regulators and industry groups to modernize these standards. Our goal is to ensure pet parents have clear, accurate, and transparent information about how their pet food is made safe.

What This Means for You and Your Pet

For pet parents, the benefits are simple: the same nourishing, Frozen Raw Goat Milk you trust – now made even safer. HPP offers the best of both worlds: the effectiveness of a proven food safety step and the integrity of raw nutrition, including beneficial organisms, enzymes, and nutrients.

We know how much our Frozen Raw Goat Milk means to you and your pets. By embracing trusted technologies like HPP, we can continue to make these products available, while also leading the way in setting higher standards for safety and transparency in our industry.

At Primal Pet Foods, we’ll always put pets first – and we’ll continue to advocate for labeling standards that reflect the innovative food safety practices that benefit them.