The fastest way to know if a juice is pasteurized is to check the label for a specific FDA-required warning. Since 1998, any packaged juice sold in the U.S. that has not been treated to eliminate pathogens must carry this statement: “WARNING: This product has not been pasteurized and therefore may contain harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness in children, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems.” If you don’t see that warning, the juice has been pasteurized or treated with an equivalent process.
That rule covers most situations, but not all of them. Here’s how to tell what you’re drinking in every scenario you’re likely to encounter.
Check for the FDA Warning Label
The warning is your most reliable tool. Federal law requires it on every container of juice that hasn’t undergone a process to destroy at least 99.999% of the most dangerous bacteria present. That includes bottles, cartons, jugs, and pouches. If the label doesn’t have the warning, the manufacturer has treated the juice to meet that safety standard, whether through heat pasteurization, high-pressure processing, or another approved method.
Look near the ingredient list or along the bottom edge of the label. The warning is sometimes printed in small type and easy to miss, especially on artisan or small-batch products. If the juice is marketed as “raw,” “unpasteurized,” or “untreated,” the warning should be there to confirm it.
Where the Warning Label Doesn’t Apply
The FDA does not require a warning label on juice sold by the glass. That means fresh-squeezed juice at farmers’ markets, apple orchards, roadside stands, juice bars, and some restaurants may be completely unpasteurized with no label to tell you so. In these settings, you have to ask directly. A simple “Is this pasteurized?” is the only way to know for sure.
This is worth paying attention to during apple cider season especially. Fresh cider sold at orchards and farm stands is one of the most common sources of unpasteurized juice in the U.S., and it has been linked to dozens of foodborne illness outbreaks over the past several decades, most involving E. coli O157:H7 or the parasite Cryptosporidium.
Clues Beyond the Label
Even without reading the fine print, several features of the juice itself can point you toward an answer.
- Shelf-stable vs. refrigerated: Juice sitting on an unrefrigerated store shelf (boxed juice, bottled juice in the center aisles) is virtually always pasteurized. It was heat-treated and sealed to be stable at room temperature. Unpasteurized juice must be kept cold.
- Shelf life: Unpasteurized juice with no preservatives is considered safe for up to 7 days when kept at 41°F or below, and many producers voluntarily set a “best by” date of just 3 to 4 days. If the juice in your hand expires within a week and lives in the refrigerated section, that’s a sign it may be raw. Pasteurized refrigerated juice typically lasts weeks to months unopened.
- “Cold-pressed” labeling: Cold-pressed doesn’t automatically mean unpasteurized. Many commercial cold-pressed juice brands use high-pressure processing (HPP), which crushes bacteria using extreme water pressure instead of heat. HPP-treated juice meets the same federal safety threshold as heat-pasteurized juice. The bottle will often say “HPP” or “cold-pressured” somewhere on the label. If a cold-pressed juice carries the FDA warning, it has not been HPP-treated or pasteurized in any way.
- Cloudy appearance: Cloudiness alone doesn’t confirm anything. Both pasteurized apple cider and unpasteurized cider can look cloudy. But if you’re at a farm stand and the cider is unfiltered and opaque, it’s worth asking.
What “Pasteurized” Actually Means
Pasteurization is a heat treatment that destroys harmful bacteria and other pathogens. For juice, the FDA requires any treatment method to achieve what’s called a 5-log reduction, meaning it eliminates 99.999% of the most resistant pathogen likely to be in that type of juice. For citrus juices like orange juice, the primary concern is Salmonella. For apple juice and cider, it’s E. coli O157:H7 and Cryptosporidium.
High-pressure processing achieves the same level of pathogen reduction without heat, which is why it’s popular with brands marketing “raw” or “fresh-tasting” juice. The FDA does not require special approval for HPP because it doesn’t involve radiation or chemical agents. From a safety standpoint, HPP juice and heat-pasteurized juice are held to the same standard.
Why It Matters
Unpasteurized juice has caused significant outbreaks. A UC Davis review of juice-related foodborne illness from 1922 to 2010 documented dozens of incidents tied to raw apple juice and unpasteurized orange juice. A single 1996 E. coli outbreak linked to unpasteurized apple juice sickened 70 people and killed one. In 1999, a Salmonella outbreak from unpasteurized orange juice affected 423 people. These are not theoretical risks.
The people most vulnerable to serious illness from contaminated juice are young children, older adults, pregnant women, and anyone with a weakened immune system. For healthy adults, the risk from a single glass of unpasteurized juice is low but not zero. The bacteria and parasites found in raw juice can cause symptoms ranging from mild diarrhea to kidney failure, depending on the pathogen and the person’s health.
Quick Decision Guide
If you’re standing in a store or at a market trying to figure out what you’re holding, work through these steps:
- Shelf-stable, unrefrigerated juice: Pasteurized. Safe for everyone.
- Refrigerated juice with no FDA warning on the label: Pasteurized or HPP-treated. Safe for everyone.
- Refrigerated juice with the FDA warning label: Not pasteurized. Higher risk for vulnerable groups.
- Juice sold by the glass at a market, orchard, or juice bar: Unknown unless you ask. No label is required.
When in doubt, the label tells the story. No warning means the juice has been treated. A warning means it hasn’t. And when there’s no label at all, the only way to know is to ask the person pouring it.