- Sterilization: Process designed to produce a sterile state.
- Sterile state: Sterile state is absolute condition of total destruction or elimination of all living microbes.
- Aseptic: The term aseptic indicates a controlled process or condition in which the level of microbial contamination is reduced to the degree that microbes can be excluded from a product during processing.
Microbial death kinetics and terminology
- D-Value: The D-value is the time(for heat or chemical exposure)or dose(for radiation) required for the microbial population to decline by one decimal point(a 90%,or one logarithmic unit).
- Z-Value: The number of degrees for 1 log reduction in D-value.
- F-Value: The equivalent time at temperature,T delivered to a unit of product calculated using a specified value of z
Classification of sterilization methods:
- Thermal
- Dry heat
- Moist heat
- Combination treatment
- Non-thermal
- Physical
- Filtration
- Ionization
- Chemical
- Physical