Application note on Validating Pasteurization Processes for UHT and HTST

UHT and HTST pasteurization are highly regulated, thermal processes that revolve around sterilizing liquid products (typically food) prior to packaging. The goal of the process is to
sterilize foods and beverages like milk, juice, dressing and yogurt, while ensuring that they keep their sensory appeal and become shelf-stable products.

One of the most important considerations for validation is the location of the critical point. Critical points are the slowest reacting part of the system, these are especially important to locate within the holding tube. The cold spot could be located in the center of a tube, or in other geometric locations, depending on the type of product. This therefore needs to be defined prior to validation by using mathematic modelling combined with actual measurements.

The importance of validating continuous heat treatment systems is to ensure that the parameters used for a product, aside from ensuring that they are adequate, produce a safe thermally processed product that does not compromise the desired quality and sensory attributes of the product. Ellab’s wireless TrackSense data loggers are ideal for the challenges of validating or measuring the critical areas as they do not have any range limitations.

Read more about some of the challenges and our solutions when validating these critical processes in our new application note. Alternatively, contact your local sales team to discuss your specific application.