Pasteurisation

Pasteurisation is the preservation of foods such as milk and fruit juice by mild heat, usually below 100 °C, to kill pathogens and extend shelf life; it is named after the French chemist Louis Pasteur, who found in 1864, at Arbois, that briefly heating young wine to about 50–60 °C killed its microbes and stopped it turning sour with age. Heating wine for preservation had been known in China since 1117. First used for wine and beer, pasteurisation was applied to milk later, and New York City made it compulsory for milk in 1910.