Food Technology Glossary

Applying isostatic pressure of roughly 400–600 MPa to packaged food to inactivate vegetative microorganisms with little heat.

The principle that higher temperature for shorter time achieves the same microbial lethality with less loss of nutrients, colour and flavour.

Combining several mild preservation factors — pH, aw, temperature, preservatives, redox potential — so that their combined effect prevents microbial growth where none alone would suffice.

A fast-freezing method where small food pieces are frozen separately before packing, so they do not stick together into one solid block.

Exposure to ionising radiation — gamma, electron beam or X-ray — measured in grays, to reduce microbial load, control insects or inhibit sprouting.

A dairy product made by slowly heating and stirring milk until most of the water evaporates, leaving a thick, solid mass.

Heating or cooking food using microwave energy, which makes water molecules inside the food vibrate and generate heat quickly from within.

Grinding whole grains into flour or splitting them into smaller pieces, usually by removing or breaking down the outer husk and bran.

Replacing the air in a pack with a controlled gas mixture, typically carbon dioxide, nitrogen and sometimes oxygen, then sealing without further adjustment.

A method of partly drying food by soaking it in a strong sugar or salt solution, which pulls water out of the food by osmosis.

Partly boiling paddy (rice with its husk) before milling, which pushes nutrients from the bran into the grain and makes the rice firmer after cooking.

A 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.