ABSTRACT
The principles of heat processing discussed in the chapters in the heat processing section, and in particular those that refer to the heat resistance of the microorganisms and the mechanisms and rates of heat transfer, are among the absolutely necessary information in establishing a heat treatment for a particular product. No matter if one is interested in establishing a process for steam sterilization or thermal pasteurization, or is aiming in enzyme inactivation through a water blanching procedure, or is simply heating the product as an intermediate step during a particular process, the basic principles are the same. Thus, the concepts that will be presented in this chapter, although they will be, most of the time, focused and referred to thermal processes used for
commercial sterilization, they are of general applicability, independently of the severity or the goals of a particular heat treatment.
