Optimization of Liver Pate Sterilization from the Aspect of Preserving Nutritional Value and Ensuring Food Safety

Sterilization is a physical method of food preservation that, through high temperature over 100°C which destroys microorganisms and inactivates tissue enzymes. Safety and shelf-life of the canned liver pate (75 and 150 grams) is ensured with determined Fo values ≥ 3. Commercial sterility was achieved, but treatment intensity was too high (Fo=12,07-15,93 and Fo=9,71-13,17) thus reduced the nutritional value of the food (Co=111-160 and Co=123-180). Based on the measurements, under defined heat treatment conditions (20’ heating time and 121.1 ° C autoclave medium under 2.5 bar pressure followed by 20-25’ cooling time) it is suggested that effective sterilization should be reduced by 5 and 10 minutes, respectively. This way the safety of the product would not be compromised, negative impact of heat on the nutritional value would be reduced, whereby production efficiency would be increased and energy consumption would be reduced.