Food Technology Glossary

A systematic preventive food safety system built on seven principles, beginning with hazard analysis and identification of critical control points.

An affective sensory scale measuring degree of liking, most commonly the 9-point scale from dislike extremely to like extremely.

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

A number from 0 to 20 describing an emulsifier's relative affinity for water and oil.

The section of a continuous pasteuriser that provides the required residence time at process temperature.

Forcing a liquid at high pressure through a narrow valve to break dispersed droplets into smaller ones, stabilising the emulsion.

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.

Addition of hydrogen across double bonds of unsaturated fatty acids using a nickel catalyst, raising melting point and oxidative stability.

A formal written order telling a food business to fix a specific safety problem within a set time, without immediately shutting the business down.

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

The equimolar mixture of glucose and fructose produced by hydrolysing sucrose, so called because the optical rotation inverts from positive to negative.