Pascalization

Pascalization, also called bridgmanization or high pressure processing, is a method of preserving and sterilizing food in which a product is processed under very high pressure, inactivating certain microorganisms and enzymes. Because the process has a limited effect on the covalent bonds within the food, it maintains both the sensory and nutritional qualities of the product better than heat-based methods. The technique is named after the seventeenth-century French scientist Blaise Pascal, who studied the effects of pressure on fluids; during pascalization, more than 50,000 pounds per square inch may be applied for approximately fifteen minutes, inactivating yeast, mold, vegetative bacteria and some viruses and parasites. It is also known as bridgmanization, after the physicist Percy Williams Bridgman.