Have you hugged local Pastuerizer today??

So I have been thinking all week of what to write in this blog post about food...Its just such a wide umbrella of a topic that I really found it hard to find a jumping off point of sorts. Then I miraculously just happened to show up to my 8am Microbiology class this morning and my professor started talking about a lot of different microbes and bacteria and different ways to kill them. One of these ways just rang true to me: Pasteurization. Pasteurization is basically the process that quickly heats and then cools rapidly to slow microbial growth in food and liquids. When you hear "pasteurization" most everyone's first thoughts go to milk but for the lactose intolerant among us it can also used on almonds, canned foods, soy sauce and even tobaccos. We do learn of it a little, early on, in our schooling but it is one of life's many mysteries that many people just take for granted and hope it was done correctly. If its not then we could end up with outbreaks of tuberculosis, diptheria, salmonellosis, strep throat, scarlet fever , listeriosis, brucellosis and typhoid fever to name a few. Should you ever find yourself scoping out the local grocery store aisles and you get a fleeting fancy to grab your favorite bottle of vino, beer, milk or yes even cheese please remember to say a little prayer and thank Mr. Louis Pasteur.

Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist, who in 1864, came up with the procedure of exposing wine to high temperatures (which still end up below boiling point) and then a flash cooling in order to prevent souring. God love the man because I know that I do!! In today's world there are basically 4 types of pasteruization. They are flash pasteurization (which as it sounds involves heating liquids to 160-180 degrees before the filling and capping process for about 20 seconds and then cooling, basically higher temps than norm and shorter lengths of time), cold pasteurization (which basically irradiates food and drink -- i.e. milk that could last up to 2 months or more on the store shelf instead of a few days to a week being refrigerated -- cheaper for shipping and storage but may affect the taste), high pressure pasteurization (think of high pressure cooker for a short period of time killing the microbes) and finally Ultra Pasteurization (similar to high pressure but this has even higher temps and the product will have a longer shelf life than regular old high pressure but still needs refrigeration). The high temperatures and short times standard has been designed to kill 99.999% of the number of viable micro-organisms in milk which is pretty darn good if you ask me. So seriously, put down the Budweiser, glass of Chardonay, frosty cool glass of chocolatey goodness milk and yes even the bottle of Dasani and say thanks to a man who over a century ago had the idea to heat something up and cool it down before selling to us the mass market. We salute you Louis Pasteur even if you are French!!

That's it for now folks,
Josh

sources of information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasteurization and http://www.niroinc.com/gea_liquid_processing/pasteurization.asp