The act of pasteurization is one that has allowed the food industry to ship products that spoil easily- and keep their shelf life high enough to allow for consumers to use them. The process is compared to other technologies such as homogenization and sterilization.
One may notice that pasteurization isn’t the best in the taste category. While pasteurization is necessary and still makes a great end product, there are those that say the process takes too much flavor out of the item being processed. Where milk is concerned, one can taste the difference by selecting different brands of milk based on how they were sterilized.
Different price points in seemingly the same carton of milk usually are centered around the fact that some milk producers put in extra nutrients and helpful ingredients. This is done to offset the act of pasteurization taking out helpful enzymes, nutrients, and vitamins from the milk. The added benefit is that the helpers are still there, it’s just that the carton of milk will end up costing more.
Technology is a wonderful thing. There are now processes that will allow the average carton of milk last months while on the shelf. You certainly wouldn’t be able to do this with a standard carton of milk found at a modern grocery store, however. With new types of heat treatment, and special packaging, one can find even organic types of milks that only need refrigerated after being opened for the first time.
Pasteurization is most commonly associated with milk, since that is the industry that arguably uses the devices the most. Other products that use pasteurization include nuts, beer, cheeses, crabs, cream, honey, soy sauce, and more. To see a taste difference for yourself, take a bite of crab that has been pasteurized. Compare the taste to that of the crab that has been freshly caught out of the coast- odds are you will spot a large difference.
In relation to homogenization, pasteurization is seen as a healthier alternative. Homogenization is a type of sterilization that instead attempts to make the entire milk product the same throughout the body of liquid in the container- effectively “smashing” fat molecules into each other. In the process, proteins and other good materials are being made worthless as they are going to bypass the digestion process, and not be absorbed as they normally would.
Closing Comments
Heavy machinery and small machinery alike achieve pasteurization. Finding either will be a tough process, however. Start looking on the Internet for brokers who can help out, start going to local auctions, or buy new from a manufacturer to get started in pasteurization.
Learn more on tunnel pasteurizer and flash pasteurizer.
