Café au lait, cappuccino, Viennese melange, cocoa, latte macchiato – what do all these drinks have in common? It’s the milk that sets the tone here. Milk is a highly perishable foodstuff. A special process, pasteurization, makes it relatively sterile for a limited time and thus preserves it to a certain extent. The term “pasteurize” as a synonym for “to preserve by heating”, is so firmly anchored in our linguistic usage that we usually no longer even think about its origin.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
The process and subsequently the name “pasteurization” can be traced back to the French physicist, chemist and bacteriologist Louis Pasteur. The scientist recognized that tiny, single-celled living organisms, known as microorganisms, multiply or split during putrefaction and fermentation. This observation gave rise to their first name: “fission fungi”. Today they are referred to as “bacteria” or “microbes”. When heated to 62 to 85 degrees Celsius, these microorganisms are largely destroyed. Higher temperatures (= “sterilization“), while serving to keep food germ-free, also destroy important vitamins and proteins in sensitive foods. Many foods that can only be kept fresh for a short time are now pasteurized. These include soft drinks, fruit juices and beer, which would spoil more quickly without heat treatment.
Louis Pasteur is world-famous today, but he was also awarded fame and the highest honors during his lifetime. In 1883, he succeeded in producing a vaccine against anthrax. Later, he developed vaccines against chicken cholera and rabies. Louis Pasteur is considered a pioneer of “active immunization.”
