Processing & Preservation
HTST principle
The principle that higher temperature for shorter time achieves the same microbial lethality with less loss of nutrients, colour and flavour.
The reason pasteurised milk in a carton tastes fresher and less “cooked” than boiled milk — a shorter, hotter treatment instead of prolonged boiling.
Related terms
UHT
Processing & PreservationHeating to roughly 135–150 °C for 2–5 seconds followed by aseptic packaging, giving a shelf-stable product without refrigeration.
z-value
Food MicrobiologyThe temperature increase required to reduce the D-value by a factor of ten — the slope of the thermal death time curve.
Pasteurisation
Processing & PreservationA mild heat treatment that destroys vegetative pathogens and reduces spoilage organisms, without eliminating spores. Milk: LTLT 63 °C for 30 min, or HTST 72 °C for 15 s.
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