It’s Time to Revise Thermal Processing Theories

The canning industry’s success in avoiding botulism, according to Teixeira et al. (2006), is due to the application of mathematical models capable of simulating the complex mechanisms of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and heat transfer involved in thermal processing of foods." This is to a large extent true.

However, the food industry is still using D and z values to calculate sterility, despite the growing evidence that inactivation of bacterial spores, including those of Clostridium botulinu…