An innovative process for the production of spices through immediate thermal treatment of the plant material

Spices are common sources for microbial contaminations with special concern in minimally processed products. Sterilization of spices has been shown to adversely affect product quality criteria and ionizing or UV radiation have been met with consumer resistance. Pasteurization/sterilization or blanching as thermal processes effective in reducing microbial loads and inactivating enzymes. However, loss of volatiles could not be prevented in the process presented and needs to be tackled prior to industrial scale use.