BAEN /CHEN-474- UNIT OPERATION IN FOOD PROCESSING

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Texas A&M University
Class Exercise

Example 1:
A suspension containing 3 x 105 spores of organism A having a D value of 1.5 min at
121.1oC and 8 x 106 spores of organisms B having a D value of 0.8 min at 121.1oC is
heated at a uniform constant temperature of 121.1oC. Calculate the heating time for this
suspension needed to obtain a probability of spoilage of 1/1000.

Example 2:
The following data were obtained from a thermal resistance experiment conducted on a
spore suspension at 112oC:

Time Surviving
[min] Spores/g
0 106
4 1.1x105
8 1.2x104
12 1.2x103
Determine the D value of the microorganism.
Example 3:
The decimal reduction times D for a spore suspension were measured at several
temperatures:
Temperature D
[C] [minutes]
104 27.5
107 14.5
110 7.5

Determine the thermal resistance constant z for the spores.

Example 4:
Estimate the spoilage probability of a 50-minute process at 113oC when D113 = 4 minutes
and the initial microbial population is 104 per container.
Example 5.
A thermal process is accomplished by instantaneous heating to 138oC followed by a four-
second hold and instantaneous cooling. Estimate the lethality at 121oC when the thermal
resistance (z) for the microorganism is 8.5oC.
Solution:

Example 6
The process in Example 5 is modified to allow for a one-second heating step and one-
second cooling step in addition to the four seconds holding component. Estimate the total
lethality at 121oC.
1.2

0.8
Lethal rate

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Time [s]
Example 7:
In pilot plant testing of a liquid food subjected to an HTST process, one microorganism
survived heat treatment. Laboratory tests established D121 = 1.1 min and z=11oC for the
microorganism. The maximum initial microbial is assumed to be 105/g, and the largest
container to be used is 1000 g. A process is desired that will assure that spoilage occurs in
less than one container per 10,000. Temperature at selected points in the process is as
follows. Calculate the minimum holding time required to destroy the microorganisms.
Figure 10: Plot of temperature versus time for the process

150

140
Temperature [C]

130

120

110

100
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Time [s]

Lethality calculation
Time [s] Midpoint Incremental
Temperature [C] lethality [s]
0.8 107 0.001
1.8 114.8 0.005
2.8 122.4 0.02
3.8 128.7 0.09
4.8 132.9 0.23
5.8 136.25 0.46
6.8 138.3 0.7
7.8 139.4 0.88
8.8 140 1
9.8 140 1
10.8 140 1
11.8 140 1
12.8 129.2 0.104
13.8 117.3 0.008
14.8 111 0.002
15.8 108 0.0001
Figure 11: Histogram showing the use of graphical integration to determine total
lethality.

1.2

0.8
Lethal rate

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0.8 2.8 4.8 6.8 8.8 10.8 12.8 14.8
1.8 3.8 5.8 7.8 9.8 11.8 13.8 15.8
Time [s]