Pasteurization in Milk Processing: A Complete Food Safety Control System
Pasteurization in Milk Processing: A Complete Food Safety Control System Pasteurization is one of the most important food safety operations in the dairy industry. Many people understand it only as “heating milk,” but in real processing it is much more than that. Pasteurization is a validated control system that combines raw milk inspection, process standardization, exact time and temperature control, holding time validation, flow diversion, cooling, hygienic packaging, verification testing, record review, and cold chain management. The purpose is simple but critical: protect public health while maintaining the natural quality, taste, nutrition, and shelf life of milk. Pasteurization is not sterilization. It does not destroy every microorganism. Instead, it is designed to destroy pathogenic microorganisms and reduce spoilage organisms to a level that makes milk safe when handled under controlled chilled conditions. For this reason, pasteurized milk must still be stored under refr...