---

Pasteurization is the process of heating milk or a milk product to a certain temperature for a specified period of time without allowing recontamination of that milk or milk product during the heat treatment process. The process was named after Louis Pasteur who discovered that spoilage organisms could be inactivated in wine by applying heat at temperatures below its boiling point. The process was later applied to milk and remains the most important operation in the processing of milk.

The extent of microorganism inactivation depends on the combination of temperature and holding time. Minimum temperature and time requirements for milk pasteurization are based on thermal death time studies for the most heat resistant pathogen found in milk, Coxelliae burnettii.

The two purposes for pasteurizing milk are to: 1) protect public health by destroying pathogens in the milk; and, 2) extend the shelf life of milk and milk products by destroying some undesirable enzymes and many spoilage bacteria.

---

Excerpted from: Pasteurization