TAILORHEAT – Tailor-suited heating targets from batch to continuous dairy processes

Thermal processing is crucial for ensuring food safety, shelf life, and quality in dairy products. While existing heat treatment guidelines are mainly based on laboratory-based batch processes, industrial dairy production relies on continuous processes where milk is also exposed to physical stresses such as shear forces, mixing, and other physical stresses. These effects are rarely considered when laboratory data are applied in practice, which may result in an overestimation of the heat intensity needed to avoid spoilage and pathogens.

By: Anne Lau Heckmann

TAILORHEAT aims to provide tailor suited heating targets by generating new knowledge on how heat and physical stress interact during continuous dairy processing. The project focuses on improving the translation of heat inactivation data from batch systems to industrial conditions relevant for UHT (Ultra-High Temperature milk), ESL (Extended Shelf Life milk), and HTST (High-Temperature Short-Time milk) milk.

TAILORHEAT combines microbiology, processing technology, and modelling to study microbial inactivation in both batch and continuous heating systems. Experimental work is supported by mathematical analysis and computational fluid dynamics to describe flow, temperature profiles, and physical stresses. Relevant spore‑forming microorganisms are studied  and the project compares different processing setups, including direct and indirect heating, homogenisation, and pumping, and analyses how flow conditions and physical stresses influence heat inactivation.

The project will deliver improved guidelines for targeted heat treatments that ensure food safety and shelf life while reducing energy use, environmental impact, and the risk of over‑processing. This contributes to lower environmental impact and helps preserve product quality by avoiding over‑processing. In the longer term, the outcomes may inform future international recommendations for heat treatment of milk and dairy products.