Abstract
A food pasteurization or sterilization process was treated as a system comprising a target microorganism, a food medium, and applied lethal agents (both thermal and nonthermal). So, the state of such a system was defined by the target microorganism's concentration, the food medium parameters (food composition, pH, and water activity), and the magnitudes of temperature and nonthermal lethal agents. Further, a path was defined as a series of profiles that describe the changes in state factors over time when a food process system changes from its initial state to any momentary state. Using the Weibull model as an example, results showed that, if the microbial inactivation rate depends on path, then there exists an infinite number of rate equations that can result in the same algebraic primary model under constant conditions but, theoretically, only one of them is true. Considering the infinite possibilities, there is no way to find the most suitable or true rate equation. However, the inactivation rate equation can be uniquely derived from the algebraic primary model if the inactivation rate does not depend on path, which was demonstrated to be true by most microbial survival data reported in previous studies.