The emerging technology of aseptic processing of particulate foodspromises lower packaging costs and higher food quality and safety.The process, however, has yet to be regulated, and the majority ofthe innovative research performed in the past decade remainsuncollected. Aseptic Processing of Foods Containing SolidParticulates fills this void, providing students and industryprofessionals a reference on how the continuous sterilization ofparticulate foods may be accomplished.

The fundamental challenge of the method is simple: how todetermine the temperature within a freely flowing solid piece(particle) entrained in a viscous fluid stream, considering thatthe fluid and solid must achieve uniform composition at outlet, andthat the solid is of significant size. Aseptic Processingthoroughly incorporates the three disciplines intimately involvedwith this question: engineering, microbiology, and statistics.Drawing on a pair of landmark conferences, the text detailscritical experiments conducted with an eye toward developinguniform parameters for operation. Specific topics coveredinclude:

-Flow and residence time distributions of solid-liquidmixtures
-Fluid-solid convective heat transfer
-Statistical design and analysis and microbiologicalvalidation
-Hazard analysis and critical control point evaluation of amultiphase food product aseptic system
-The filing process for FDA approval

An indispensable companion to the work and studies of engineersand university personnel, Aseptic Processing of Foods ContainingSolid Particulates brings the level of scholarship equal to thelevel of enthusiasm for this potentially groundbreaking system.