THERMAL FOOD

PROCESSING
PASTEURIZATION, BLANCHING, THERMAL
STERILIZATION, ASEPTIC PROCESSING, SOUS-
VIDE COOKING, MICROWAVE HEATING, OHMIC
HEATING, DRYING, REFRIGERATION AND
FREEZING
Thermal Processing Principles
Thermal processing involves heating food, either in a sealed
container or by passing it through a heat exchanger,
followed by packaging.
The food is adequately heat treated and to reduce Post
Processing Contamination (PPC). The food should then be
cooled quickly and it may require refrigerated storage or be
stable at ambient temperature.
Food Heating
Reason of food heating :
 To inactivate pathogenic or spoilage microorganisms
 To inactivate enzymes, to avoid the browning of fruit by
polyphenol oxidases, minimise flavour changes resulting from
lipase and proteolytic activity
The process of heating a food also induces physical changes and
chemical reactions (gelatinisation, protein denaturation or browning)
which in turn affect the sensory characteristics, such as colour, flavour
and texture, either advantageously or adversely.
Intensity of thermal processes : ranging from mild processes such as
thermisation and pasteurisation through to more severe processes
such as in-container sterilisation.
Safety Issue of Thermal
Processing
Major safety issue :
1. Inactivating pathogenic microorganisms which are
of public health concern.
2. Inactivation of microorganisms which cause food
spoilage, such as yeasts, moulds and gas-producing and
souring bacteria.
Heat Resistance of Pathogenic Microorganism
Some heat-labile pathogenic microorganism: Campylobacter,
Salmonella, Lysteria and of more recent concern Escherichia coli 0157,
which are inactivated by pasteurisation.
While of greater heat resistance is Bacillus cereus, which may survive
pasteurisation and also grow at low temperatures.
The most heat-resistant pathogenic bacterial spore is Clostridium
botulinum.
Heat Resistance of Food Spoilage
Microorganism
The most heat-resistant being the spores of Bacillus
stearothermophilus.
The heat resistance of any microorganism changes as the environment
changes, for example pH, water activity or chemical composition
changes; and foods themselves provide such a complex and variable
environment.
New microrganisms may also be encountered, such as Bacillus
sporothermodurans.
It is important to be aware of the type of microbial flora associated with
all raw materials which are to be heat-treated.
Quality Issues of Thermal
Processing
Quality issues revolve around minimising chemical reactions and loss of
nutrients and ensuring that sensory characteristics (appearance,
colour, flavour and texture) are acceptable to the consumer.
It is important to understand reaction kinetics and how they relate to:
o Microbial inactivation
o Chemical damage
o Enzyme inactivation
o Physical changes.
PASTEURISATION
Thermal pasteurization (named after inventor Louis Pasteur) is a
relatively mild heat treatment, in which liquids, semi-liquids or liquids
with particulates are heated at a specific temperature (usually below
100 C) for a stated duration to destroy the most heat-resistant
vegetative pathogenic and spoilage organisms present in the food.
Pasteurization also achieves almost complete destruction of
undesirable enzymes, such as lipase in milk.
Different temperature-time combinations can be used to achieve
pasteurization.
Pasterurization
In milk pasteurization, heating temperatures vary widely, ranging from low-
temperature, long-time heating (LTLT, 63 C for a minimum of 30 min), to
high-temperature, short-time heating (HTST, 72 C for a minimum of 15
sec), to ultra-pasteurization (135 C or higher for 2 sec to 2 min).
The intensity of thermal treatment needed for a given product is also
influenced by product pH; for example, fruit juices (pH <4.5) are generally
pasteurized at 65 C for 30 min, compared to other low-acid vegetables that
need to be treated at 121C for 20–30 min.
As a moderate heat treatment, pasteurization generally causes minimal
changes in the sensory properties of foods with limited shelf life extension.
Further, pasteurized products require refrigeration as a secondary barrier
for microbiological protection.
BLANCHING
A mild thermal treatment similar in temperature-time intensity to
pasteurization, is applied to fruit and vegetables to primarily inactivate
enzymes that catalyze degradation reactions.
It is achieved by using boiling water or steam for a short period of
time, 5–15 min or so, depending on the product.
Blanching is often used as a pretreatment to thermal sterilization,
dehydration, and freezing to control enzymes present in the food.

Beneficial effects : color improvement and

reducing discoloration, removal of air from
food tissue and softening plant tissue to
facilitate packaging into food containers.
THERMAL STERILISATION
Thermal sterilization involves heating the food to a sufficiently high
temperature (>100 C) an holding the product at this temperature for a
specified duration, with the goal of inactivating bacterial spores of
public health significance.
Sterilisation of foods by the application of heat can either be in sealed
containers (CANNING) or by continuous flow techniques (UHT/
Aseptic Processing)
Commercial sterility of thermally processed food, as defined by the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the condition achieved by the
application of heat that renders the food free of (i) microorganisms
capable of reproducing in the food under normal non-refrigerated
storage and distribution conditions, and (ii) viable microbial cells or
spores of public health significance.
Canning
The minimum heating temperature is 121 C for 3 min, known as the
‘minimum botulinum cook’, measured at the slowest heating point.
The temperature of 121.1 C (250 F) is taken as a reference temperature
for sterilisation processes.
Since lethalities are additive, it is possible to sum the lethalities for a
process and determine the total integrated lethal effect, which is known
as the Fo value.
CANNING
PROCESSING
ASEPTIC PROCESSING/
ULTRA HIGH TEMPERATURE
A continuous thermal process, involves pumping of pumpable food
material through a set of heat exchangers where the product is rapidly
heated under pressure to ≥ 130 C to produce shelf-stable foods.
The heated product is then passed through a holding tube, wherein the
temperature of the product mixture is equilibrated and held constant
for a short period as determined by the type of food and microbes
present, and to cool the product. passes through set of cooling heat
exchangers
The sterilized cooled product is then aseptically packaged in a
presterilized package.
The time/temperature conditions required to achieve the minimum
botulinum cook can be estimated at UHT temperatures. At a
temperature of 141C, a time of 1.8 s would be required.
Aseptic Processing
For UHT products, an approximate value of Fo can be obtained from the
holding temperature (T, C) and minimum residence time (t, s).

The botulinum cook should be a minimum requirement for all low acid
foods, even those where botulinum has not been a problem, e.g. for
most dairy products.
In the UK, there are statutory heat treatment regulations for some UHT
products:
SOUS-VIDE COOKING
Sous-vide cooking involves vacuum packaging food before application
of low-temperature (65–95 C) heating and storing under refrigerated
conditions (0–3 C).
Meat, ready meals, fish stews, fillet of salmon, etc. are some examples
of sous-vide cooked products.
Due to use of modest temperatures, sous-vide
cooking is not lethal enough to inactivate
harmful bacterial spores. In addition, vacuum
packaging conditions could also support
potential survival of Clostridium botulinum
spores.
Generic flow diagram for a sous-vide processing line
MICROWAVE HEATING
Microwave energy (300–300,000 MHz) generates heat in dielectric
materials such as foods through dipole rotation and/or ionic
polarization.
In microwave heating, rapid volumetric heating could reduce the time
required to achieve the desired temperature, thus reducing the
cumulative thermal treatment time and the thermolabile food
constituents. better preserving.
A household microwave oven uses the 2450 MHz frequency for
microwave. For industrial application, a lower frequency of 915 MHz is
selected for greater penetration depth.
Application of Microwave in Food
Processing
1. Microwave Cooking
2. Thawed or tempered
3. Drying
4. Pasteurization
5. Blanching
6. Baking
7. Packing
8. Microwave Assisted Extraction (MAE)
Microwave Cooking and Tempering
Research has demonstrated that many food vitamins are thermolabile
and leach out during thermal processing. Over the years, microwave
processing has demonstrated an processing with reduced nutrient
losses.
Microwave tempering of frozen food products aims to raise the
temperature of the product as uniformly as possible to allow further
mechanical handling/processing (slicing, cutting, molding, etc.), while
maintaining the quality of the product under refrigerated temperature.
With rapid microwave tempering, there is no temperature abuse of the
product and there are reduced drip losses and reduced space and
inventory requirements
Microwave Drying
An advantage of using microwave energy is the possibility of combining
multiple drying methods. Combination of convection hot air drying
with microwaves offers reduced drying times and improved food
quality.
A significant industrial application is in microwave/air tunnel drying
used principally as a finish drying process to level-off moisture content
in pasta, cracker or chip drying.
Use of microwave energy in drying offers some advantages as it
complements well conventional drying in later stages by targeting
specifically the internal moisture of the product. However, when the
heat generation within the product is too rapid, it can cause the
generation of great internal steam pressure, resulting in expansion
which can lead to product collapse or material explosion.
Microwave Assisted Extraction (MAE)
The reduction of extraction time is one of the most attractive results
attributable to the introduction of microwaves into the extraction
system.
Microwave-assisted extraction can also improve the product quality as a
result of short processing time or due to the special characteristics of
microwaves in the extraction method.
Solvent-free microwave extraction is being developed as a green
alternative method, demonstrated rapidity, efficiency and cleanliness
(no solvent) of the process.
Microwave Assisted Extraction
OHMIC HEATING
Ohmic heating involves electrical resistance heating of the pumpable
food to rapidly heat the food material.
The heat is generated in the form of an internal energy transformation
(from electric to thermal) within the material as a function of an
applied electric field (<100 V/cm) and the electrical conductivity of the
food.
The principal interest has traditionally been in sterilization of a high-
viscosity or particulate foods that would be difficult to process using
conventional heat exchange methods. Another application of ohmic
heating includes improvement of extraction, expression, drying,
fermentation, blanching, and peeling.
Concept of OHMIC Heating
 REFRIGERATION AND
FREEZING
Refrigeration and freezing take away heat energy from food systems
and maintain the lower temperatures throughout the storage period
to slow down biochemical reactions that lead to deterioration.
Chilled or refrigerated storage refers to holding food below ambient
temperature and above freezing, generally in the range of −2 to ~16C.
Removing sensible heat energy from the product using mechanical
refrigeration or cryogenic systems lowers the product temperature.
For frozen storage, food products are frozen to temperatures ranging
from −12 C to −18 C. Appropriate temperature control is important in
freezing to minimize quality changes, ice recrystallization, and microbial
growth.
Freezing
Food products can be frozen using either indirect contact or direct
contact systems.
In indirect contact systems, there is no direct contact between the
product and the freezing medium. Freezing media : Cold air and liquid
refrigerants. Indirect freezing equiment: Cabinet freezing, plate
freezing, scraped surface heat exchanger, and indirect contact air-blast.
Direct contact freezing systems do not have a barrier between the
product and the freezing medium. Example: Direct contact air-blast,
fluidized bed, immersion freezing, and spiral conveyor systems
NON THERMAL /
ALTERNATIVE FOOD
PROCESSING
HIGH HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE, ULTRASOUND,
FOOD IRRADIATION, LIGHT PULSES, PULSE
ELECTRIC FIELD, OSCILLATING MAGNETIC FIELDS