Editing Pasteurization (section)

{{short description|Process of preserving foods with heat}}
{{Redirect|Pasteurized|the racehorse|Pasteurized (horse)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}

[[File:Pasteurized milk -Japan.jpg|thumb|Pasteurized milk in Japan]]
[[File:Give The Bottle-Fed Baby a Chance For It&#039;s Life poster.jpg|thumb|A 1912 Chicago Department of Health poster explains household pasteurization to mothers.]]

In food processing, '''pasteurization''' ([[American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization)|also]] '''pasteurisation''') is a process of [[food preservation]] in which packaged foods (e.g., [[milk]] and [[fruit juice]]s) are treated with mild heat, usually to less than {{cvt|100|C|F}}, to eliminate [[pathogen]]s and extend [[shelf life]]. Pasteurization either destroys or deactivates [[microorganism]]s and [[enzyme]]s that contribute to [[food spoilage]] or the risk of disease, including vegetative [[bacteria]], but most [[Endospore|bacterial spores]] survive the process.<ref name="Fellows-2017">{{cite book |title=Food Processing Technology Principles and Practice |last=Fellows |first=P. J. |publisher=Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-08-101907-8 |pages=563–578}}</ref><ref name="Tewari-2007">{{cite book |title=Advances in Thermal and Non-Thermal Food Preservation |url=https://archive.org/details/advancesthermaln00tewa |url-access=limited |last1=Tewari |first1=Gaurav |last2=Juneja |first2=Vijay K. |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2007 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/advancesthermaln00tewa/page/n10 3], 96, 116|isbn=9780813829685 }}</ref>

Pasteurization is named after the French microbiologist [[Louis Pasteur]], whose research in the 1860s demonstrated that thermal processing would deactivate unwanted microorganisms in [[wine]].<ref name="Tewari-2007"/><ref name="Milkfacts" /> Spoilage enzymes are also inactivated during pasteurization. Today, pasteurization is used widely in the [[dairy]] industry and other [[food processing]] industries for [[food preservation]] and [[food safety]].<ref name="Milkfacts">{{Cite web|url=http://milkfacts.info/Milk%20Processing/Heat%20Treatments%20and%20Pasteurization.htm|title=Heat Treatments and Pasteurisation|website=milkfacts.info|access-date=2016-12-12|archive-date=5 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605083217/http://milkfacts.info/Milk%20Processing/Heat%20Treatments%20and%20Pasteurization.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

By the year 1999, most liquid products were heat treated in a continuous system where heat was applied using a [[heat exchanger]] or the direct or indirect use of hot water and steam. Due to the mild heat, there are minor changes to the nutritional quality and sensory characteristics of the treated foods.<ref name="Rahman-1999" /> [[Pascalization]] or high-pressure processing (HPP) and [[Food preservation#Pulsed electric field electroporation|pulsed electric field]] (PEF) are non-thermal processes that are also used to pasteurize foods.<ref name="Fellows-2017" />