Flash pasteurization
Flash pasteurization, also called "high-temperature short-time" (HTST) processing, is a method of heat pasteurization of perishable beverages like fruit and vegetable juices, beer, kosher wine, and some dairy products such as milk. Compared with other pasteurization processes, it maintains color and flavor better, but some cheeses were found to have varying responses to the process.[1]
Flash pasteurization is performed prior to filling into containers in order to kill spoilage microorganisms, to make the products safer and extend their shelf life. It must be used in conjunction with sterile fill technology (similar to aseptic processing) to prevent post-pasteurization contamination.[2]
The liquid moves in a controlled, continuous flow while subjected to temperatures of 71.5 °C (160 °F) to 74 °C (165 °F), for about 15 to 30 seconds.
The standard US protocol for flash pasteurization of milk, 71.7 °C for 15 seconds, was introduced in 1933, and results in five log (99.999%) or greater reduction in harmful bacteria.[3] An early adopter of pasteurization was Tropicana Products, which has used the method since the 1950s.[4] The juice company Odwalla switched from non-pasteurized to flash-pasteurized juices in 1996 after tainted unpasteurized apple juice containing E. coli O157:H7 sickened many children and killed one.[5]
Technologies
Microwave Volumetric Heating is the newest developed industrially available technology for thermal processing, using microwaves to pasteurizer products. Offering a unique system that delivers energy evenly and deeply into the body of a flowing liquid, suspension or semi-solid on a industrial scale.Microwave Volumetric Heating contains no hot surfaces as a microwave transparent pipe is used for the flowing products. Allowing the Microwave energy to penetrate the whole volume of the product, evenly. This allows for greater microbial kill at 10-15°c below conventional heating systems, increasing the shelf-life of the product, no functional damage, no Burn on or fouling, and no flavor damage.
References
- ^ The Effects of Flash Pasteurization of Milk upon the Flavor and Texture of Cheddar Cheese
- ^ Browne, Jeremy; Candy, Eric (2001), Excellence in packaging of beverages, Hook, Hampshire, U.K.: Binsted Group, p. 178, ISBN 0-9541123-0-X, OCLC 49233551
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Stabel, J. R.; Lambertz, A. (2004), "Efficacy of Pasteurization Conditions for the Inactivation of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Milk", Journal of Food Protection, 67 (12): 2719
- ^ press release, 10 December 1996
- ^ New York Times, Questions of Pasteurization Raised After E. Coli Is Traced to Juice, November 4, 1996