A PROCEDURE FOR ESTIMATING STERILIZATION OF AND QUALITY FACTOR DEGRADATION IN THERMALLY PROCESSED FOODS

Abstract

SUMMARY The method of Stumbo (1953, 1965) has been extended to obtain a method to estimate not only sterility but degradation of nutrient and organoleptic factors which degrade exponentially with time of heating at a constant temperature. These factors include, in particular, vitamin and color components of food. In devising the method, a new equation was derived for integrating heat effects throughout the food container during heating and cooling. Though the equation is equally as convenient as Stumbo's original equation, and gives virtually the same results in sterility evaluations. It may be employed with equal ease in evaluation of organoleptic and nutrient factor degradation. To implement the method it was necessary to extend f h /U:g relationship tables for values in the higher range–the new tables cover values (for every other value) from = 8 to = 80. Only three examples of these tables are included in the paper. Results obtained with this simple manual method compare most favorably with results obtained by other more complicated methods for the same purpose, namely those of Ball and Olson (1957), Teixeira et al. (1969) and Hayakawa (1969).