Pasteurization, Pasteurization

The process was named after its creator, French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur. The first pasteurization test was completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard on April 20, 1862.

Instead, pasteurization aims to reduce the number of viable pathogens so they are unlikely to cause disease (assuming the pasteurisation product is refrigerated and consumed before its expiration date). Commercial-scale sterilization of food is not common because it adversely affects the taste and quality of the product.

This is considered adequate for destroying almost all yeasts, mold, and common spoilage bacteria and also to ensure adequate destruction of common pathogenic heat-resistant organisms (including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis and Coxiella burnetii , which causes Q fever). HTST pasteurization processes must be designed so that the milk is heated evenly, and no part of the milk is subject to a shorter time or a lower temperature.

Pasteurization causes some irreversible and some temporary denaturation of the proteins in milk.

In most jurisdictions, milk treated by double pasteurization might not be considered pasteurized, depending on the temperature and duration of the heat treatment. Heat treatment might also be performed at a lower temperature or for a shorter time. Such milk could possibly be called "raw milk" or, confusingly, "unpasteurized milk". It cannot be called "pasteurized", even though a significant number of pathogens are destroyed during the process.

Irene R. Grant et al, "Effect of Commercial-Scale High-Temperature, Short-Time Pasteurization on the Viability of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in Naturally Infected Cows' Milk" , Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2002, p. 602-607, Vol. 68, No. 2 Researchers have developed more sensitive diagnostics, such as real-time PCR and improved culture methods that have enabled them to identify pathogens in pasteurized milk.

Source: Wikipedia > Pasteurization