Food Safety: Spices/Seeds/Nuts/Onion/Garlic etc. The problem of creating microbiologically-safe food with an acceptable shelf-life and quality for the consumer is a constant challenge for the food industry. Natural Steam Pasteurization involves heating a product to a specific temperature for a specific period of time. Hence, its most common method is called high temperature short time (HTST) treatment. The FDA has approved steam processing as an acceptable means of pasteurizing for example almonds. The key to steam pasteurizing products is in the condensation power of the steam. During pasteurization, the steam is heated to supersaturation and then allowed to condense on the cool surface of the product. The Tema system combines steam with fluidization, then drying and cooling via a shaking mechanism. It is with this condensation and consequent hot moisture that the pathogen is inactivated and the 3-5 log reduction occurs. The shaking and fluidization method ensures that all surfaces are exposed and treated equally. Hence steam can quickly reach all organisms on the surface of foodstuffs and therefore incidences of the revival of the bacteria hidden in crevices are eliminated.
