Thermization

Some cheeses, including varieties of blue cheese,

are made from thermized milk.

Thermization, also spelled thermisation, is

a method of sanitizing raw milk with low
heat. "Thermization is a generic
description of a range of
subpasteurization heat treatments (57 to
68°C × 10 to 20 s) that markedly reduce
the number of spoilage bacteria in milk
with minimal heat damage."[1] The process
is not used on other food products,[2] and
is similar to pasteurization but uses lower
temperatures, allowing the milk product to
retain more of its original taste.[3] In
Europe, there is a distinction between
cheeses made of thermized milk and raw-
milk cheeses. However, the United States'
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
places the same regulations on all
unpasteurized cheeses. As a result,
cheeses from thermized milk must be
aged for 60 days or more before being
sold in the United States, the same
restriction placed on raw-milk cheeses by
the FDA.[4]

Thermization involves heating milk at

temperatures of around 145–149 °F (63–
65 °C) for 15 seconds, while pasteurization
involves heating milk at 160 °F (71 °C) for
15 seconds or at 145 °F (63 °C) for 30
minutes.[3] Thermization is used to extend
the keeping quality of raw milk (the length
of time that milk is suitable for
consumption)[5] when it cannot be
immediately used in other products, such
as cheese. Thermization can also be used
to extend the storage life of fermented
milk products by inactivating
microorganisms in the product.[6]

Thermization inactivates psychrotrophic

bacteria in milk [6] and allows the milk to
be stored below 8 °C (46 °F) for three
days,[2] or stored at 0–1 °C (32–34 °F) for
seven days.[7] Later, the milk may be given
stronger heat treatment to be preserved
longer.[2] Cooling thermized milk before
reheating is necessary to delay/prevent
the outgrowth of bacterial spores. When
the milk is first heated, spores can begin to
germinate, but their growth can be halted
or delayed when the milk is refrigerated,
depending on the microorganisms' growth
requirements. Germinated spores are
sensitive to subsequent heating, however
since germination is not a homogeneous
process, not all spores will germinate or be
inactivated by subsequent heating.

References
1. Hickey, D.K.; Kilcawley, K.N.;
Beresford, T.P.; Wilkinson, M.G.
(2007). "Lipolysis in Cheddar Cheese
Made from Raw, Thermized, and
Pasteurized Milks" . Journal of Dairy
Science. 90 (1): 47–56.
doi:10.3168/jds.S0022-
0302(07)72607-3 . PMID 17183074 .
2. Brennan, James G., ed. (2006). Food
Processing Handbook . Wiley-VCH.
p. 48. ISBN 978-3-527-30719-7.
3. Rich, Robert (September 5, 2003).
"Keeping it raw" . The Mountain View
Voice. Embarcadero Publishing
Company. Retrieved October 23,
2010.
4. Fletcher, Janet (July 13, 2006).
"Wisconsin's Buttermilk Blue adds
pizazz to summer salads" . San
Francisco Chronicle. Hearst
Communications Inc. Retrieved
October 23, 2010.
 5. Baker, John C.; Van Slyke, Lucius L.
(December 1, 1919). "A method for
the determination of the keeping
quality of milk" (PDF). The Journal of
Biological Chemistry. 40 (2): 373.
6. Sun, Da-Wen (2006). Thermal Food
Processing: New Technologies and
Quality Issues . CRC Press. p. 274.
ISBN 978-1-57444-628-9.
7. Early, Ralph (1998). The Technology
of Dairy Products (2 ed.). Springer.
pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-0-7514-0344-2.

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