Pasteurization is a process of food preservation that involves heating packaged and non-packaged foods to mild heat, usually to less than 100°C, to eliminate pathogens and extend shelf life. The process is intended to destroy or deactivate microorganisms and enzymes that contribute to food spoilage or risk of disease, including vegetative bacteria, but most bacterial spores survive the process. The process is named after the French microbiologist Louis Pasteur, whose research in the 1860s demonstrated that thermal processing would deactivate unwanted microorganisms in wine. Spoilage enzymes are also inactivated during pasteurization. Today, pasteurization is used widely in the dairy industry and other food processing industries to achieve food preservation and food safety.
Key facts about pasteurization include:
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Process: Pasteurization involves heating liquids at high temperatures for short amounts of time. The process consists of heating a food to temperatures below 100°C for a few minutes or seconds, and then rapidly cooling it.
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Purpose: The main objective of pasteurization is the substantial reduction of the populations of microorganisms existing in the product. Unlike sterilization, the total elimination of microorganisms and spores is not achieved.
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Microorganisms: Pasteurization is intended to destroy or deactivate microorganisms and enzymes that contribute to food spoilage or risk of disease, including vegetative bacteria, but most bacterial spores survive the process.
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Louis Pasteur: The process is named after the French microbiologist Louis Pasteur, whose research in the 1860s demonstrated that thermal processing would deactivate unwanted microorganisms in wine.
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Dairy industry: Pasteurization is widely used in the dairy industry and other food processing industries to achieve food preservation and food safety. For the dairy industry, the terms "pasteurization," "pasteurized" and similar terms mean the process of heating every particle of milk or milk product, in properly designed and operated equipment, to one of the temperatures given in a chart and held continuously at or above that temperature for at least the corresponding specified time.
Overall, pasteurization is a widely used process in the food industry to achieve food preservation and food safety by reducing the populations of microorganisms existing in the product.
