High Temperature Methods

-Heat is one of the oldest methods of destroying microorganisms and their spores in food
processing and preservation.
-Development of several high temperature based methods like boiling, roasting, baking
and other heat treatments are the greatest advance in food hygiene because such methods
kills all the forms of microorganisms (vegetative and spore) and make the food safe.
-Most commonly used methods of heat treatment used for food preservation are cooking,
canning, pasteurization, sterilization, UHT etc.

*Pasteurization
- It is named after its inventor French chemist, Louis Pasteur (1822-1895).
- He used the application of heat to destroy human pathogens in foods.
- The purpose of pasteurization is to increase milk safety for the consumer by
destroying disease causing pathogenic microorganisms that may be present in milk
and to increase keeping the quality of milk products by destroying spoilage
microorganisms and inactivating enzymes that contribute to the poor quality and
shelf life of milk.
- In general, pasteurization is a process of heat treatment of milk and other
beverages, requires adequate holding time to assure the thermal destruction of
pathogens and microbes accountable for food spoilage, without any changing in
the nutritional qualities.
- Milk is a food product that is pasteurized worldwide, but some other foods are
normally pasteurized in certain parts of the world:
+Canned foods: such as meats, vegetables and fruits that are generally heated in
the can or container itself to kill the microbes effectively.
+Juices: most of the tetra pak and bottled juices are pasteurized first before.
+Low-alcoholic beverages: such as juices, these beverages are also heated and
cooled before filling.
+Water: the bottled water is usually pasteurized and in places where polluted
water is available.
Practically, Pasteurization involves heating the food to a specific temperature for a
definite time and then cooling quickly.
Usually, the temperature applied and the holding time of pasteurization vary with
the equipment available and the type of milk or food product (table 10.1).
For pasteurization of milk, the time-temperature combination is carefully selected
on the basis of the thermal death time of the most resistant pathogens (such as
Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that may be present in raw milk and keeping the
maximum temperature and time at which the nutritional and other qualities of milk
(like taste and palatability) are retained.
At dairy industries, routinely milk is pasteurized at 62.8°C for at least 30 minutes
or at 71.7°C for at least 15 seconds or if using ultra-high temperature (UHT) at
135°C for 1–2 seconds.
UHT processed milk is sterilized (all forms of life are killed) and this lengthens its
storage time but does affect the taste and other values.
*Limitations:
Though, this method kills the pathogens or bacteria present in the raw milk and
makes is safe to consume without any health risk but there are few limitations
discussed below:
-Due to loss of certain enzymes in food during pasteurization process, some people
believe that raw milk is a better option to pasteurized milk.
-It is believed that milk pasteurized with HTST method may lose 1/3rd of the
thiamine present in the milk and half of vitamin B12.
-Survival of heat resistant pathogens has increased the risk of the presence of
bacteria even after pasteurizing the food.
*Sterilization:
-It is a method of destruction of all microorganisms using temperatures above
100°C.
-For complete sterilization of foods, the time and temperature required are much
influenced by a number of factors like the type of microorganisms found on the
food, the size of the container, the acidity or pH of the food and the method of
heating.
-In general, the thermal processes of canning are generally designed to destroy the
spores of the bacterium C. Botulinum (can easily grow under anaerobic
conditions, producing the deadly toxin that causes botulism).
-In sterilization process, heating to temperatures greater than 100°C and however,
C. Botulinum is not viable in acidic foods (pH less than 4.6), therefore, such foods
can be adequately processed by dipping in water at temperatures just below
100°C.
-For low-acid foods (pH greater than 4.6), the sterilization is generally carried out
in steam vessels called retorts at temperatures ranging from 116° to 129°C and the
retorts are controlled by programmed devices and detailed records are kept of the
time and temperature treatments for each batch of processed cans.
-At the end of the heating cycle, the cans are cooled under water sprays or in water
baths to about 38°C and then dried to prevent any surface rusting.
-The cans are then labeled properly, placed in fiberboard cases either by hand or
machine and stored in cool and dry storerooms.
*Limitations:
-Practically, canning has no major effect on the structure of carbohydrate, protein
or fat content of foods and vitamins (A and D) and β-carotene are resistant to the
effects of heat but a significant loss of nutrients, mainly heat-sensitive vitamins
(vitamin B1), may occurring the canning process.
-Likewise, the anaerobic conditions of canned foods have a shielding effect on the
stability of vitamin C but it is destroyed during long heat process.
*Canning:
-It is one of the most widely used method of preserving food, in which the food
contents are processed (using heat to appropriate temperature and for a prescribed
time to destroy micro-organisms, including clostridium botulinum spores), and
sealed in an airtight container.
-Canning process was developed by Nicolas Appert.
-Generally, this practice provides a typical shelf life extending from one year to
five years, though under specific circumstances a freeze-dried canned product like
canned dried lentils can last as long as 30 years in an edible condition.
-In the process of canning, there is a careful preparation of food packed into a
sealed tin, glass or plastic container which is subjected to defined high
temperatures (above 100ºc) for an appropriate period of time and then cooled.
-During heating there is a removal of oxygen and further hermetic sealing of
containers to avoid post-process contamination and boiling the food in the
container to kill all the microbes and sealing the can (either before or while the
food is in boiling process) to restrict and further prevent any new microorganisms
from getting in.
-After the thermal processing, the sealed container must be cooled immediately to
a temperature of about 38ºc to prevent unnecessary adverse effects of heat on the
texture, flavour or colour of the food products.
-Thus, this sterilizes the food so it will keep for a long period without any risk of
spoilage by unwanted microorganisms

*Ultra-Heat Treatment (UHT):

-It is also called, ultra pasteurization (UP), the most widely used pasteurization
process for milk in Europe and throughout the world ( gaining popularity in the
united states and Canada too), is a more recently developed process of sterilization
of food by heating it for an extremely short period, about 1–2 seconds, at a
temperature exceeding 135°C.
-Generally, such temperature is required to kill spores in milk. Application of high
heat during the UHT process can cause Maillard browning and change the taste
and smell of dairy products but not significantly.
-Although, the most common UHT product is milk, but the process is also used for
fruit juices, cream, soy milk, yogurt, wine, soups and honey.
-When UHT process is coupled with sterile packaging (tetra Pack), creates an
extended shelf life of milk UHT milk from six to nine months, until opened.
-At industrial scale, the UHT milk passes through heating and cooling stages in
rapid succession, then is immediately put into a sterile tetra pak shelf-safe carton
to avoids any re-infection.
-Such product, lasts up to six months without refrigeration or addition of any
preservatives. Specially, the tetra pack made of paperboard, obtained from wood
from selectively harvested (regrown trees), is used to make the package more
stable and lightweight.
-Thin layers of polyethylene (a common plastic), are added to seal in the liquid
and protect it from external moisture content and a thin layer of aluminum foil
protects products from oxygen, flavors and light.
-For the environment tetra pack cartons are biodegradable and more efficient to
transport than heavier packages or refrigerated products
*Limitations:
-Most of people believe that enzymes in raw milk aid digestion and calcium
absorption and their specific health benefits are debated within the scientific
community.
-It is true that the uht and htst pasteurization processes reduce enzymes in the milk.
*Cooking:
-This method is usually used to improve palatability rather than to improve storage
quality of food.
-It is also called boiling, is the process of using heat to water until the temperature
reaches about 100°C.
-Although, boiling of foods in water cannot completely destroy all microbes, but
the actively growing (vegetative) cells of bacteria and fungi (yeasts and moulds)
are generally quickly destroyed at this temperature if maintained for a sufficiently
long period of time, helps the heat to completely penetrate the foods and kill the
microorganisms.
-Bacterial spores (extremely resistant to heat) not killed at this temperature,
although their growth is prevented such as spores of Clostridium perfringes and
Clostridium botulinum (an organism present in non-acid and semi-acid foods like
peas, corn, green beans, meat etc. and produces injurious toxins in food), being
highly resistant to heat.
-Botulin (toxin) is inactivated by boiling foods for at least 10 minutes and the
spores of such bacteria are easily destroyed only if food is cooked under pressure
and destruction by heat is affected by time and temperature variation.
-However, some enterotoxins (produced by staphylococci) are not easily
inactivated.
-The thermophilic microorganisms may survive the effects of boiling and
improperly handled cooked food are rapidly cause food spoilage whenever
environmental conditions are favourable for them.
*Limitations:
-Generally, cooking destroy the spoilage causing microbes and reduces the
possible risk of disease transmission but it can damage the food’s qualities (i. e.
Appearance, texture and flavor etc.) and may also destroy some important
vitamins.