Kratom Pasteurization: What It Is and Why It’s Important

When Kats Botanicals was founded in 2016, our Founder and CEO Justin Kats made a promise to our customers—a promise that still stands today. That promise is to use every possible method available to purify the Kratom we sell and to prove to the consumer that we will do whatever it takes to ensure we never compromise the health of our customers.

The Kratom tree naturally grows outside and as such, it’s important to make sure its leaves are suitable for consumption in whatever format you choose—be it in capsules or in a tea.

Kats Botanicals has invested heavily in a multi-tiered Kratom treatment process that involves carefully screening all our Kratom the moment we acquire it. Part of this screening process also includes a rigorous pasteurization step that few consumers know much about.

In this article, we’re explaining what Kratom pasteurization is, how we perform it on all of our Kratom products, and why it’s such an important step in the overall quality control process.

What Is Pasteurization?

In 1860, a French scientist named Louis Pasteur discovered that he could prevent the abnormal fermentation of alcoholic beverages like beer and wine by applying a specific amount of heat for a set amount of time. In doing this, breweries and vineyards could streamline the production of their consumables, and much less raw material would go to waste due to spoiling.

It wasn’t long before this heating process was found to be useful in the production of milk and other dairy products. By applying heat in the range of 135-150 degrees fahrenheit, it was shown that many pathogens could be virtually eliminated. Among these pathogens was the bacteria Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, a bacterium capable of causing Tuberculosis in humans.

In short, this was a revolution in public health and safety. Because of just how important this development was, the process was coined ‘Pasteurization’, named after the man who discovered it.

How Does Pasteurization Work?

Pasteurization directs the application of heat for a predetermined period of time.

So, why is this treatment so effective at reducing the incidence of bacteria and other pathogens in organic material like beer, wine, milk, and even Kratom powder?

All about the Enzymes

All bacteria rely on enzymes for basic biological functions. Enzymes can be thought of as substances within the cell that are needed for respiration, metabolism, and other simple cellular activities.

These enzymes are most usable to bacteria when the environment is at a temperature of 40-140 degrees fahrenheit. This explains, at least in part, why food that is frozen (reaching 32 degrees fahrenheit or lower) is effectively safeguarded from the development of harmful bacteria.

When the temperature swings in the other direction (that is, hotter than 140 degrees fahrenheit), the enzymes within the bacteria undergo a process called denaturation.

Without getting into too much detail, denatured bacteria almost immediately become dead bacteria. They can’t function. This is why boiling water and cooking food essentially ‘cleans’ it before consumption.

How Kats Botanicals Performs Pasteurization on Kratom

Now that you know a bit more about the how and why of pasteurization, let’s explore the exact pasteurization process that we use here at Kats Botanicals.

As it turns out, there are many ways to apply heat to an organic substance like Kratom powder. After evaluating the many methods that we could use to pasteurize our Kratom, we’ve settled on a four-step process that we have found to be effective, trackable, and highly efficient.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1:  Imports are categorized for packaging format. Sometimes, we receive Kratom parcels in transparent, one-kilo bags. These are long and slender, and they’re much easier to bring to a uniform temperature. Other shipments come in larger formats that require additional heat exposure to ensure an effective treatment.

Step 2: The Kratom is placed into precisely controlled ovens. Here, the temperatures are raised to 160 degrees fahrenheit, and the Kratom is left to pasteurize for 4-5 hours (sometimes longer if the parcel is especially large).

Step 3: Core temperature readings are recorded. In order to be 100% sure that the entire Kratom specimen is fully pasteurized, the core must register a temperature of at least 160 degrees fahrenheit for 4-5 hours.

Step 4: Rapid cooling is applied to the Kratom, post-pasteurization. An important part of the pasteurization process is cooling. The reason for this is because bacteria actually breed faster in slightly warmer temperatures. So, it’s critical that the heated Kratom be brought back down to room temperature as quickly as possible.

Before undergoing the process outlined above, all Kratom batches are assigned a lot number that stays with the Kratom throughout its entire life cycle, all the way to when it reaches your front door.

At any time, this lot number can be traced back to the pasteurization process that was used, the supplier that shipped it to us, and the independent, third-party lab testing results that were obtained.

Thermal Heat Treatment vs. Ultraviolet Light Exposure

You might have heard about the use of ultraviolet light (UV) as a way to sterilize surfaces or substances like Kratom powder. Interestingly, UV radiation is highly effective at killing some kinds of viruses and other pathogens, but it has numerous limitations.

When ultraviolet light hits a surface, it is either absorbed or reflected by that surface. So, if you were to expose a one-kilo bag of Kratom to a UV light source, only the exterior of the Kratom powder would receive any direct radiation.

Any Kratom deeper than surface-level would never be exposed to the UV light. So, in order to use a UV light to ‘sterilize’ Kratom, you would have to constantly agitate the Kratom for hours to ensure that there was uniform exposure to the entire bulk of the powder. This is simply not feasible, and sterilizing Kratom in this way would be impossible to rely on at scale.

Thermal radiation works much differently. Heat penetrates much, much better than UV light does. And, heat can be measured with a thermometer, whereas it would be impossible to guarantee that any amount of UV radiation adequately penetrated any given amount of Kratom powder.

For these reasons, using heat as a way to reduce microbial loads in Kratom is much more preferable compared with UV sterilization.

Other Considerations

It’s widely accepted that extreme heat kills harmful pathogens. We’ve already determined that. But, extreme heat can also break down some important plant alkaloids contained in the Kratom plant.

These alkaloids include Mitragynine and 7-Hydroxymitragynine, the two principle phytochemicals that are responsible for the effects of Kratom. Thankfully, both of these alkaloids have a much higher heat tolerance than bacteria has, which means that pasteurization of Kratom as described above doesn’t pose a threat to the constitution of Kratom’s most important alkaloids.

Throughout the pasteurization process, it’s also important that the Kratom powder itself isn’t burned. This would adversely affect the taste, smell, and coloration of the Kratom. For this reason, it’s important to use highly precise ovens that can be controlled down to a tenth of a degree.

If the Kratom isn’t hot enough, the pasteurization process won’t be as effective. If the Kratom is too hot, it can become ultimately compromised and ruined in the process.

An Ongoing Commitment to Quality

At Kats Botanicals, we are proud of the extensive quality control measures we use to ensure that the Kratom powder and capsules we sell are as free from harmful contaminants as possible.

With a disciplined, rigorous approach to sending our Kratom through a battery of treatments and tests, the resulting product is one that you can be sure is the cleanest and purest you’ll find anywhere.

Don’t forget: you can always see the Certificate of Authenticity for any Kratom product we sell; just look at the packaging for the QR code. Scan the code with your mobile device, and you can see for yourself what the lab results were for that batch of Kratom.

This level of transparency gives our customers the peace of mind they need to feel good about the products they purchase from us. If you have any questions or concerns about the quality of Kats Botanicals Kratom products, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

We’re always happy to share our love for this plant with our customers, and we look forward to being your go-to Kratom source for life!