Why Get Joy Doesn't Use HPP — And What We Use Instead

Last Updated: June 17, 2026

HPP — High Pressure Processing — uses up to 87,000 psi of pressure to eliminate pathogens in raw dog food. It's the industry standard kill step, and most raw and freeze-dried raw brands rely on it. The problem is that HPP doesn't discriminate: it kills harmful bacteria and beneficial bacteria in equal measure. If you're buying a probiotic-forward food and it was processed with HPP, many of those probiotics are already gone before the bag is sealed. Get Joy uses a different approach — competitive inhibition, an FDA-approved kill step that eliminates pathogens without touching the beneficial cultures that make gut-healthy food worth buying.

Table of Contents

1. What Is HPP and Why Does the Industry Use It?
2. The Problem No One's Talking About
3. What Get Joy Uses Instead — Competitive Inhibition Explained
4. The Temperature Difference and Why It Matters
5. What This Means for Your Dog
6. Questions to Ask About Your Dog's Food
7. Frequently Asked Questions

What Is HPP and Why Does the Industry Use It?

High Pressure Processing is a cold pasteurization technique originally developed for human food — it's the same technology used to extend the shelf life of premium orange juice and deli meats. In pet food, it was adopted by the raw and freeze-dried raw category as a way to meet food safety requirements without applying the kind of sustained heat that would fundamentally change the character of raw ingredients.

The mechanics are straightforward: the sealed product is submerged in water and subjected to isostatic pressure — up to 87,000 pounds per square inch. This pressure denatures the proteins in bacterial cell walls, killing them effectively regardless of species. It works on Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria — the three pathogens the FDA and USDA are most concerned about in raw pet food — with documented efficacy.

From a regulatory and commercial standpoint, HPP solved a real problem. Raw pet food carries genuine pathogen risk, particularly for households with immunocompromised members or young children. HPP gave brands a way to meet safety standards without cooking their ingredients, which allowed them to maintain "raw" or "minimally processed" positioning while operating within regulatory guidelines.

The Problem No One's Talking About

The pressure that kills Salmonella at 87,000 psi doesn't know the difference between a pathogen and a probiotic. Both are bacteria. Both have cell walls. Both are subject to the same physics. When HPP is applied to a raw or freeze-dried raw food that contains live probiotic cultures, those cultures are significantly compromised in the process.

This creates a fundamental contradiction at the heart of many "gut-healthy" pet food products. A brand that markets its food as probiotic-rich, then processes it with HPP, is making a claim about an ingredient state that no longer exists by the time the product reaches the customer. The label may say "Contains Bacillus coagulans" — but if HPP has already applied 87,000 psi to that batch, what remains of those cultures in viable, functional form is an open question.

The problem is compounded by the fact that CFU counts (Colony Forming Units — the measure of live bacterial concentration) are typically established before processing, not after. A product that claims 1 Billion CFU on the label may have tested at that level before HPP. The post-HPP count — the number that actually matters for your dog — may be substantially lower, and it's rarely disclosed.

This isn't a minor technicality. If you're choosing a probiotic-forward food specifically to support your dog's gut health, and the probiotics are functionally eliminated during processing, you're paying a premium for a benefit that isn't being delivered. The food may still be nutritionally sound — quality ingredients, good protein sources, appropriate macronutrients — but the specific gut-health benefit you came for has been compromised before it gets to your dog.

What Get Joy Uses Instead — Competitive Inhibition Explained

Competitive inhibition is a food safety strategy based on a simple ecological principle: if you fill the available territory with organisms you want, there's no room for organisms you don't. In the context of dog food production, this means introducing beneficial probiotic strains at high concentrations before any potential pathogen has the opportunity to establish itself. The beneficial bacteria colonize the substrate first and hold it.

Think of it like a dog park at capacity. If every spot is already occupied by dogs you know — well-socialized, friendly, taking up all the space — a troublemaker that shows up can't find room. They circle the fence and leave. That's roughly what's happening at the microbial level. Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria need available resources and space to establish themselves. When the probiotic population is dense and diverse enough, those resources aren't available.

This approach is FDA-approved as a valid kill step. It's not a workaround or a novel theory — it's a recognized food safety intervention with a documented mechanism of action. Get Joy uses it specifically because it achieves pathogen control without applying the mechanical force (HPP) or the heat (conventional pasteurization) that would destroy the live cultures the product is designed to deliver.

The tradeoff is complexity. Competitive inhibition requires precise management of the microbial environment throughout production — monitoring probiotic concentrations, controlling temperature, maintaining the conditions that keep beneficial strains dominant. It's more demanding than HPP, which is a relatively simple industrial process. Get Joy accepts that complexity because the alternative — claiming gut-healthy probiotics while destroying them in processing — is not something the brand is willing to do.

The Temperature Difference and Why It Matters

HPP isn't the only variable in probiotic survival. Processing temperature is equally important, and the difference between industry standard and Get Joy's approach is meaningful.

Most commercial pet food — including many products marketed as "minimally processed" — reaches internal temperatures of 150°F to 160°F during production. This is primarily a food safety measure, but it has a significant secondary effect: most probiotic strains begin to lose viability at around 115°F. By the time a product has reached 150°F, sustained heat exposure has further compromised live culture populations beyond whatever HPP may have done.

Get Joy's maximum product temperature during processing is 125°F. This is not an arbitrary number — it's the upper threshold at which the probiotic strains in Belly Biotics™ can maintain meaningful viability. Freeze-drying, which removes moisture through sublimation at low temperatures rather than evaporation through heat, is the processing method that makes this possible. The ingredients are frozen, then placed in a vacuum where the ice converts directly to vapor without passing through a liquid phase. The result is a shelf-stable product that has not been subjected to the heat that would otherwise eliminate live cultures.

Get Joy also avoids irradiation (which disrupts DNA in live cultures), acidifiers (which shift the pH environment in ways that disadvantage probiotic strains), and microwave processing. The commitment to process integrity is comprehensive rather than selective — it doesn't make sense to avoid HPP and then apply a different process that achieves the same damaging result through a different mechanism.

What This Means for Your Dog

The practical difference between HPP-processed and competitive-inhibition-processed food, from your dog's perspective, comes down to what's actually in the bowl.

With Get Joy, the 3 Billion CFU per pound claimed on the label reflects the concentration in the finished product — the product as your dog eats it. Those are live, functional probiotic cultures: Bacillus coagulans, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus reuteri, and Bifidobacterium animalis, all retained at viable concentrations because the processing method didn't destroy them. When combined with Inulin (the prebiotic that feeds them) and Yeast Culture (the postbiotic that delivers stable gut-barrier benefits regardless of what happens to live cultures), the gut health system works as intended.

Nutrient preservation is also meaningfully better. Many of the vitamins, enzymes, and heat-sensitive compounds in whole food ingredients degrade at high temperatures. A product processed at 125°F retains more of what was in the ingredient at harvest. The texture and flavor are also better preserved — freeze-dried food rehydrates to a texture close to fresh because the cellular structure of the ingredients hasn't been broken down by heat. Dogs tend to find it more palatable, which matters practically: a food your dog won't eat doesn't deliver any benefits.

Food safety is not compromised. Competitive inhibition is FDA-approved and documented to achieve the pathogen reduction standards the agency requires. The SQF (Safe Quality Food) certification of Get Joy's production facility provides an additional layer of independent verification — SQF is a globally recognized food safety standard used in human food production, and meeting its requirements as a pet food manufacturer is a meaningful commitment.

Questions to Ask About Your Dog's Food

The pet food industry has a transparency problem. Marketing claims are abundant and loosely regulated; the specific process details that would let a consumer evaluate those claims are rarely disclosed. Here are the questions worth asking of any probiotic-forward pet food brand.

First: are CFU counts measured before or after processing? A pre-HPP count and a post-HPP count can differ significantly. If a brand can't tell you the post-processing CFU concentration in the finished product, the label claim has limited meaning.

Second: what is the maximum temperature reached during processing? If a brand uses "minimally processed" language but can't specify a temperature ceiling, that language is marketing, not manufacturing practice.

Third: does the brand use HPP, irradiation, or acidifiers? These are legitimate questions, and a brand committed to live culture integrity should be able to answer them directly.

Fourth: what is the kill step, and is it FDA-approved? Pathogen control is genuinely important — the question isn't whether a brand takes food safety seriously, but which method they use and what that method costs in terms of probiotic viability.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is HPP in dog food?

HPP stands for High Pressure Processing — a food safety technique that uses up to 87,000 psi of isostatic pressure to eliminate pathogens like Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria in raw pet food. It's the industry standard kill step for raw and freeze-dried raw brands. The problem is that the same pressure that kills harmful bacteria also kills beneficial probiotic cultures, making it counterproductive for products marketed on their gut-health benefits.

Is competitive inhibition as safe as HPP?

Yes. Competitive inhibition is an FDA-approved kill step with a documented mechanism of action: beneficial probiotic bacteria are introduced at high concentrations, crowding out pathogenic bacteria by occupying available resources and territory. Get Joy's SQF-certified facility adds an independent layer of food safety verification. The approach meets regulatory requirements without the collateral damage to live probiotic cultures that HPP produces.

How do I know Get Joy's probiotic count is accurate?

Get Joy's 3 Billion CFU per pound figure reflects the concentration in the finished product — after freeze-drying, after the competitive inhibition process, as the food reaches you. Because Get Joy doesn't use HPP or high heat, the post-processing count is meaningful. Brands that apply HPP to their products and report pre-processing CFU counts are reporting a number that no longer reflects the product you're buying.

Does avoiding HPP mean Get Joy's food is less safe?

No. Food safety and probiotic viability are not in conflict if you use the right kill step. Competitive inhibition achieves pathogen control through ecological displacement rather than physical force — it's effective against the same pathogens HPP targets, without the collateral impact on beneficial cultures. The FDA's approval of this method reflects that it meets the same safety standards as HPP.

What other processing methods does Get Joy avoid?

Get Joy avoids HPP, irradiation, microwave processing, acidifiers, and sustained high heat. The maximum product temperature during processing is 125°F — below the threshold at which the probiotic strains in Belly Biotics™ lose significant viability. This comprehensive approach to process integrity reflects a commitment to delivering the live cultures and nutrient density that the product promises, rather than treating those claims as marketing language.