Sterilization is the com-plete destruction of bacteria. When a thing is free from bacteria and other forms of life, it is sterile, no matter how the condition is brought about.

The purpose of pasteurization is to sterilize sufficiently to make a food safe without injuring its flavor or digestibility. Few bacteria can live in a temperature above 157° F. Some bacteria have the power of reproducing by the forming of spores which will resist such heat as may destroy the bacteria themselves. Dry heat destroys bacteria with certainty only at a temperature of 284° F.

Pasteurization is the raising of a substance to a temperature of from 155° F. to 170° F. and the maintaining of this temperature for twenty minutes, when the substance should be cooled rapidly; by this process most of the harmful germs are supposed to be destroyed.