sensitive to heat.
In acidic foods (
pH <4.6), such as fruit juice and
beer, the heat treatments are designed to inactivate enzymes (pectin
methylesterase and
polygalacturonase in fruit juices) and destroy spoilage microbes (yeast and
lactobacillus). Due to the low pH of acidic foods, pathogens are unable to grow. The shelf-life is thereby extended several weeks. In less acidic foods (pH >4.6), such as milk and liquid eggs, the heat treatments are designed to destroy pathogens and spoilage organisms (yeast and molds). Not all spoilage organisms are destroyed under pasteurization parameters, thus subsequent refrigeration is necessary.
[1]
EquipmentEdit
Food can be pasteurized in two ways: either before or after being packaged into containers. When food is packaged in glass, hot water is used to lower the risk of thermal shock. Plastics and metals are also used to package foods, and these are generally pasteurized with steam or hot water since the risk of thermal shock is low.
[1]
Most liquid foods are pasteurized using continuous systems that have a heating zone, hold tube, and cooling zone, after which the product is filled into the package.
Plate heat exchangers are used for low-
viscosity products such as animal milks, nut milks and juices. A plate heat exchanger is composed of many thin vertical stainless steel plates which separate the liquid from the heating or cooling medium. Scraped surface heat exchangers contain an inner rotating shaft in the tube, and serve to scrape highly viscous material which might accumulate on the wall of the tube.
[36]
Shell or tube heat exchangers are designed for the pasteurization of
Non-Newtonian foods such as dairy products, tomato
ketchup and baby foods. A tube heat exchanger is made up of concentric stainless steel tubes. Food passes through the inner tube while the heating/cooling medium is circulated through the outer or inner tube.
The benefits of using a
heat exchanger to pasteurize non-packaged foods versus pasteurizing foods in containers are:
- Heat exchangers provide uniform treatment, and there is greater flexibility with regards to the products which can be pasteurized on these plates
- The process is more energy-efficient compared to pasteurizing foods in packaged containers[1]
- Greater throughput
After being heated in a heat exchanger, the product flows through a hold tube for a set period of time to achieve the required treatment. If pasteurization temperature or time is not achieved, a flow diversion valve is utilized to divert under-processed product back to the raw product tank.
[37] If the product is adequately processed, it is cooled in a heat exchanger, then filled.
High-temperature short-time (HTST) pasteurization, such as that used for milk (71.5 °C (160.7 °F) for 15 seconds) ensures safety of milk and provides a refrigerated shelf life of approximately two weeks. In ultra-high-temperature (UHT) pasteurization, milk is pasteurized at 135 °C (275 °F) for 1–2 seconds, which provides the same level of safety, but along with the packaging, extends shelf life to three months under refrigeration.
[38]
VerificationEdit
Direct microbiological techniques are the ultimate measurement of pathogen contamination, but these are costly and time-consuming, which means that products have a reduced shelf-life by the time pasteurization is verified.
As a result of the unsuitability of microbiological techniques, milk pasteurization efficacy is typically monitored by checking for the presence of
alkaline phosphatase, which is denatured by pasteurization. Destruction of alkaline phosphatase ensures the destruction of common milk pathogens. Therefore, the presence of alkaline phosphatase is an ideal indicator of pasteurization efficacy.
[39][40] For
liquid eggs, the effectiveness of the heat treatment is measured by the residual activity of
α-amylase.
[1]
Efficacy against pathogenic bacteriaEdit
During the early 20th century, there was no robust knowledge of what time and temperature combinations would inactivate pathogenic bacteria in milk, and so a number of different pasteurization standards were in use. By 1943, both HTST pasteurization conditions of 72 °C for 15 seconds, as well as batch pasteurization conditions of 63 °C (145 °F) for 30 minutes, were confirmed by studies of the complete thermal death (as best as could be measured at that time) for a range of pathogenic bacteria in milk.
[41] Complete inactivation of
Coxiella burnetii (which was thought at the time to cause
Q fever by oral ingestion of infected milk)
[42][43] as well as of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (which causes
tuberculosis)
[44] were later demonstrated. For all practical purposes, these conditions were adequate for destroying almost all
yeasts,
molds, and common
spoilage bacteria and also for ensuring adequate destruction of common pathogenic, heat-resistant organisms. However, the microbiological techniques used until the 1960s did not allow for the actual reduction of bacteria to be enumerated. Demonstration of the extent of inactivation of pathogenic bacteria by milk pasteurization came from a study of surviving bacteria in milk that was heat-treated after being deliberately spiked with high levels of the most heat-resistant strains of the most significant milk-borne pathogens.
[45]
The mean log10 reductions and temperatures of inactivation of the major milk-borne pathogens during a 15-second treatment are:
The
Codex Alimentarius Code of Hygienic Practice for Milk notes that milk pasteurization is designed to achieve at least a 5 log10 reduction of
Coxiella burnetii.
[46] The Code also notes that: “The minimum pasteurization conditions are those having bactericidal effects equivalent to heating every particle of the milk to 72°C for 15 seconds (continuous flow pasteurization) or 63°C for 30 minutes (batch pasteurization)” and that “To ensure that each particle is sufficiently heated, the milk flow in heat exchangers should be turbulent,
i.e. the
Reynolds number should be sufficiently high.” The point