Frequently Asked Questions

As a great eighth-grade geography teacher once

said, there are no silly questions.

General
1. What do you mean when you say your products
are “plant-based”?
We mean that our products are made from plants.
Just plants. Lots of plants. While we don’t advocate
any one style of eating or drinking -- except finding
a balance that works for you -- we strive to make it
simple and delicious to indulge in more plants,
more often. Placing plants at the centre of the plate
(and bowl, glass, etc.) is one of the most powerful
leversthat we as individuals have on our long-term
health and that of our planet. For more on this
subject, check out our love letter to the plant
kingdom:
2. Is ANAVRIN organic?
Yes. We make our drinks from organic produce,
meaning plants that are grown without chemical
fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Our
commitment to organic ingredients is rooted in our
support of sustainable, non-toxic growing practices,
and the healthy soil and healthy crops these
practices yield.

3. Do you source your ingredients locally?

 3. Why do you use glass bottles?
Glass lasts longer than plastic and is not porous
like plastic, so you can wash it and reuse it over and
over again, without losing its shape or absorbing
colours or odours.

Furthermore, studies have shown that chemicals

used in even the safest kinds of plastic bottles break
down and leach into whatever they are carrying,
especially if the bottle is exposed to heat or
sunlight. We think it would be counterproductive to
painstakingly press a live juice that is as good for
you as possible, only to serve it in a container that
changes its quality (and not for the better).
Okay, enough moralizing for today——time to point
out the obvious: Glass is also nicer to drink from
than plastic. Don't you think?

4. What's the deal with "cold-pressed"?

Cold pressing is the healthiest way we know of to
make juice. It means using hydraulic pressure to
extract liquid from plants without denaturing
enzymes or damaging nutrients with high levels of
heat or oxidation. Our hydraulic presses coax every
colourful, delicious drop of juice from our organic
ingredients while keeping their health-giving
properties intact.
5. Are your juices raw? Are they pasteurized? Do
you use HPP? Discuss.
Our juices are raw: they are extracted and
bottled at cold temperatures. They are
unpasteurized. We do not treat them with high
pressure processing (HPP).

Pasteurization is a process whereby a food or

drink product is brought to a very high
temperature for a short period of time, and
then immediately cooled down. This process
kills off potentially harmful bacteria and slows
the microbial growth that causes things to go
bad, thereby reducing the risk of contamination
and increasing shelf life. Pasteurization has
many positive applications. However, when it
comes to fruits and vegetables, it can kill off
healthy life forms along with harmful ones.
 HPP, sometimes called high pressure
pascalization, is an alternative to
pasteurization. Instead of heat, this process
uses pressure to prolong shelf life. During HPP,
sealed plastic bottles of juice are placed in a
large machine and subjected to extreme
pressure transmitted by water. This technique
extends a juice's best-before date by up to 90
days. It is energy-intensive and requires that
juice be bottled in plastic, because the degree
of pressure applied would shatter glass bottles.

We use neither process on our juices. Instead, we

use our own process, which we’ve named light
filtration
6. What the heck is "light filtration"?
ight filtration” means using a specific type of
cold, ultraviolet light to filter potentially
harmful bacteria from our products to make
them safer (by achieving a 5-log reduction in
microorganisms) and give them extra days of
natural life while keeping the good stuff, like
taste, nutrients, and enzymes, intact.

These demonstrate that the nutritional

integrity of our ingredients remains entirely
intact.

Furthermore, light filtration uses less energy

than pasteurization or HPP, and allows us to
bottle in reusable, recyclable glass bottles.
 7. If I’m avoiding raw food and drinks can I still
drink your juices?
Light filtration gives us a 5-log reduction in
microorganisms, meaning that it significantly
reduces the opportunity for spoilage-causing
microbes to multiply. However, our juices are not
exposed to heat at any point during processing. If
you are avoiding raw products, please consult with
your doctor before determining whether consuming
raw, unpasteurized juice is safe for you.
8. Do ANAVRIN products need to be stored in the
fridge?
Yes! Our beverages must be stored in the fridge
(preferably at 4°C or under) at all times. If they’ve
been sitting out for a while and/or are not cold to th
e touch, proceed with caution.
10. How long do your products last in the fridge?
(Before and after opening.)
As a general rule, you can expect products ordered
from our website to remain fresh for 10+ days, with
some exceptions (some of our boosters, Celery
Juice, and our House Exclusives have shorter lives).
Our longest shelf-life beverages are our Kombuchas.
They are fermented and typically last for months, so
feel free to stock up. Every product has a “Best
Before” date stamped on the label: please take a
look at the date before drinking.

For our larger bottles, we recommend consuming

them within 5 days of opening and to avoid drinking
directly from the bottle to help them stay fresh
longer.
9. What are some of your environmental
commitments? How do you strive for sustainability?
Striving for sustainability in every facet of the
business is central to our mission. Concern for our
footprint factors into every decision we make as a
company. For example:

1) All of our products are plant-based. The world’s

food system accounts for between 25% and one
third of the greenhouse gasses humans generate
each year, and livestock alone accounts for 14.5%.
That’s roughly the same amount as the emissions
from all of the cars, trucks, airplanes, and ships in
the world today. Eating more plants is an important
lever that we as individuals have on our collective
carbon footprint.
2) Our beverages are certified organic. Our
commitment to using organic produce in our
products is rooted in our support of sustainable,
non-toxic growing practices, and the healthy crops
these practices yield. We purchase a large
proportion of our produce directly from local,
organic farms, prioritizing “seconds,” or the
misshapen vegetables and fruits that often end up
in landfills.

3) During the growing season, we send the fibrous

byproduct of our fruit and vegetable juices back to
local farms where it is then used as compost to help
new crops grow. We are also in the process of
developing products with partner businesses that
upcycle this organic fibre, further reducing waste.
This currently includes plant-based dog treats by
Heal Doggy.
4) For all of our products we strive to select
environmentally-friendly packaging options,
keeping the waste disposal capabilities of our
municipality in mind.

5) In every stage of developing our production

facility, we have sought to be as energy efficient as
possible. For example, our decision to use light
filtration rather than thermal pasteurization or HPP
has a significant impact on our energy use. Our light
filtration method uses only 6 kilowatt hours (kW) of
energy to treat 1000 L of juice. Treating the same
quantity of juice with thermal pasteurization would
require more than 5x as much energy (33 kilowatt
kW), and treating it with HPP would require over
30x more energy (190 kW). Our refrigerated
processing and packaging rooms are also outfitted
with an energy efficient system that uses ambient
air to provide refrigeration instead of solely relying
on compressors powered by electricity. (We’re
always keen to find a silver lining to Toronto’s many
months of winter!) And because so much of our
plant is refrigerated, we installed a white roof with
a high reflective index in order to reduce the
building’s cooling requirements.

9. What should I do with my empty glass bottles

We like using them as water bottles, on-the-go
smoothie containers, mini vases, spice jars, pen
holders, and odds-and-ends organizers.

To recycle at home or on the go, please rinse your

bottle and place it into you Blue Bin. Our caps are
also recyclable, but should be unscrewed from the
bottle first and recycled separately.

If you live near our stores in Mombasa, you can

rinse your glass 340 mL, 480 mL, bottles and bring
them to several of our locations for points through
our app.

10. Are any of your juices good for hangovers?

How astute of you to ask! Almost everything we
make is helpful for a hangover: hydration and easily
absorbed nutrients are useful after a big night.

11.I've heard that all fruit juice is bad for you

because it contains nothing but sugar. Is that true?
It’s true that some highly processed juices contain
little to none of the natural goodness of the fruits
and vegetables from which they derive, but all of
the sugar (and often more added on top of that).
Our lightly processed, vegetable-forward juices, on
the other hand, are formulated to keep sugars low.
And the naturally occurring sugars in the juices that
we extract from our minimally processed
ingredients are accompanied by easily absorbed
nutrients from our cold-pressed ingredients -- so
you get a lot more than a quick rush.

12. Where can I find the nutritional information for

your juices?
The nutritional information for each of our
products can be found at the bottom of each
product page in our online store.

13. I've heard talk of your Smoothies and Plant-

Based Bites. Where can I find those?
You are quite right——we do offer an array of
made-to-order Superfood Smoothies, in addition to
grab-and-go food items, in some of our shops. Visit
our locations page to find out which stores have
Smoothie Stations and Plant-Based Bites.

14. What is kombucha? And what is a probiotic?

 Kombucha is a fermented beverage produced by
fermenting sweetened tea with live cultures. Some
of these live cultures are good for your gut and
many are probiotic. Inside each of us is a
microbiome, or a community of bacteria. The live
cultures in probiotics help the "good bacteria" to
thrive. These good guys assist in breaking down our
food, producing vitamins, and crowding out the
"bad guys," or sickness-causing bacteria. A healthy
gut has been linked to improved digestion, weight
management, healthy skin, strengthened immunity,
and improved mood.
Our family of Probiotic Hydrators provide additional
low-sugar options if you are looking for extra gut
support.