Meaning & use
pasteurization
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountabletechnical
The process of heating a food or drink, especially milk, to a set temperature for a short time to kill harmful germs.
Grammar: Usually no article: pasteurization kills bacteria.
Patterns
- pasteurization of something
Pasteurization of milk made it much safer to drink.
The juice goes through pasteurization before it is bottled.
Some cheesemakers avoid pasteurization to keep a stronger flavor.
Common combinations
- milk pasteurization
- Milk pasteurization became common in the early twentieth century.
- undergo pasteurization
- All the juice must undergo pasteurization.
- flash pasteurization
- Flash pasteurization uses very high heat for a few seconds.
- pasteurization process
- The pasteurization process takes about half a minute.
- before pasteurization
- Raw milk is tested before pasteurization.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sterilization
- Sterilization kills all microorganisms, while pasteurization only reduces harmful ones and keeps more flavor.
- heat treatment
- Heat treatment is a wider term and may apply to metals, while pasteurization is specifically for food and drink.
- disinfection
- Disinfection usually applies to surfaces, not food.
Word family
- pasteurize verb
- to treat with heat to kill germs
- pasteurized adjective
- treated by pasteurization
- unpasteurized adjective
- not heat treated
Commonly confused: pasteurization or sterilization?
pasteurization vs sterilization
Sterilized food is treated more intensely, so it lasts longer, whereas pasteurized food still needs refrigeration.
Practice
The dairy uses ____ to kill harmful bacteria in its milk.
Choose one answer.
Pasteurization is heating to kill germs. Fermentation changes food using microbes, so it does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pasteurization”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.