GATE AG 2008 • Q15 MCQ • 1 Mark

Section 7: Dairy and Food Engineering

Preservation of Food

Subtopic: Kinetics of microbial death – pasteurization and sterilization of milk and other liquid foods

Question Statement:

When a suspension of microorganism is heated at constant temperature, the reaction kinetics of decrease in the number of the organism is

Options:

  • (A) linear
  • (B) exponential
  • (C) parabolic
  • (D) hyperbolic

Official Answer Key:

B

Step-by-Step Solution & Explanation

Thermal microbial destruction follows first-order kinetics: dN/dt = −kN, giving N = N₀e^(−kt) — an exponential decline (the basis of the logarithmic/D-value survivor curve).

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