THE CONTINUOUS OR SEMICONTINUOUS FLOW THERMAL-TREATMENT OF PARTICULATE FOODS

It is inherently more difficult to design a sterilization process for liquid foods containing particulates than for homogeneous liquids, due to heat transfer limitations in particulate-liquid mixtures and the additional problems of transport and handling. Here the guidelines for the microbiologically safe thermal sterilization of particulate foods recommended by the Continuous Heat Treatments subgroup of the European Hygienic Equipment Design Group (EHEDG) are summarized. This paper is the 13th in a series of articles featuring the EHEDG to be published in Trends in Food Science & Technology. The EHEDG is an independent consortium formed to develop guidelines and test methods for the safe and hygienic processing of food. The group includes representatives from research institutes, the food industry, equipment manufacturers and government organizations in Europe.*