Common sterilization methods in food industry
Sterilization is a very important in the process of food processing, which directly affects the quality and shelf life of food. There are mainly two kinds of sterilization methods used in food industry: thermal sterilization and non-thermal sterilization. The main purpose of thermal sterilization is to kill microorganisms that can lead to food spoilage during the normal shelf life of food. Generally, the heat treatment intensity that meets the sterilization requirement is strong enough to passivate the enzyme activity in food. Non-thermal sterilization technology mainly includes two types: chemical sterilization and physical sterilization. For example, most of the meat products, egg products, and all kinds of snacks we eat will choose thermal sterilization.
Thermal sterilization
Thermal sterilization is a form of heat treatment for the main purpose of killing microorganisms, which is mainly divided into pasteurization and commercial sterilization (high temperature sterilization). The method of sterilization is usually divided by pressure, temperature, time, heating medium and equipment, which can be divided into atmospheric pressure sterilization and pressure sterilization; the heating medium of sterilization can be hot water, water vapor, mixture of water vapor and air, flame and so on.
