Mathematical models applied to food technologies

The expression mild technologies is used to define those food treatments able to achieve safe food by significantly reducing all the possible negative side-effects. In the specific case of thermal pasteurization and sterilization, the concept of mild technologies is linked to treatments with familiar abbreviations for the consumer: UHT (Ultra High Temperature) and HTST (High Temperature Short Time). Examining the technological parameters (time and temperature) to sterilize milk, we constructed a predictive mathematical model to determine in advance couples time-temperature that will ensure the sanitization of the product with minimizing the degradation of milk quality, in accord with the mild technologies treatments. The proposed model could be applied to other foods and to other food process technologies and could be used in future research projects.