Acai is traditionally consumed as juice, frozen pulp (as in ice pops), or mixed with porridge. As a commodity, acai fruit pulp must be processed immediately, because it is quite unstable. Inadvertent thawing of frozen pulp carries a high risk of microbial contamination. One study evaluated the microbiological quality of food prepared from acai palms consumed by families living on the Combu River in the Para state of Brazil. The researchers found coliforms (disease-causing bacteria found in feces and soil), Staphylococcus aureus, and fungi in all juice samples they tested. Another problem is that the anthocyanin content of acai fruit diminishes drastically within a couple days of harvesting if the fruit pulp is not immediately and appropriately preserved.
The first efforts at preserving acai fruit and juice, with the intent of bringing the product to wider markets, involved freezing the fruit pulp and shipping it to North America on barges. Apart from the cost and inefficiencies involved in this approach, there were concerns about maintaining the required storage and transportation temperatures for the frozen juice and pulp. Even slight thawing posed the risk of activating latent enzymes and fermenting compounds in the acai, which would speed its deterioration.

Awareness of acai in the United States gained considerable momentum in 2003, when acai beverages started to spread from Southern California juice bars to larger natural foods chains. As its popularity has grown, acai products have glutted the marketplace. Many companies have rushed in to crowd the acai market in the past several years, selling acai in capsules and tablets of widely varying quality. Many of these purveyors are alarmingly ignorant about the quality issues involved in producing acai.

Because acai is best consumed immediately after picking, finding a fresh, potent, and reliable product in the United States can be challenging. Some reports document measurable nutritional deterioration of refrigerated acai juice after just twelve hours, and put refrigerated shelf life at just twenty-four hours. Though it may slightly affect the nutritional profile, most acai juice in the North American market is now pasteurized, thereby inactivating destructive enzymes and killing disease-causing bacteria and fungi. Several other methods have been attempted to improve shelf life, sanitation, and anthocyanin content of the acai fruit, including dehydration, freeze-drying, treating with sulfites, and blanching. At this time, frozen certified organic acai pulp is the best way to consume acai.