Learn about about the meaning and importance of pasteurization and other technologies in this free online course.

This course begins by describing pasteurization as the process of heating milk or milk products to a predetermined temperature for a specified period without recontamination during the entire process. You will learn how pasteurization kills all the pathogenic bacteria that may cause infection to consumers. You will also learn how the thermal death time of a microorganism is the minimum time required to achieve a total destruction of the microorganism.

This course describe the main objectives of milk pasteurization in destroying pathogenic bacteria that could have public health concerns for a consumer. By taking this course, you wll be able to distinguish between normal pasteurization which helps preserve milk products for a little while and the ultra pasteurization which preserves milk for a more long lasting period.

At the end of this course, you will have a better understanding of homogenization, and how it is a physical process of breaking down milk fat globule into tiny droplets to discourage milk separation. You will also become familiar with microwave heating, its high effectiveness on low acid foods, how it can be used for continuous and batch processing of milk products.