After “depulpation”, the product is pasteurised in machines with plates with heat recovery. The citrus fruit risks a drop in quality (due to enzyme and micro organism activity) if kept at room temperature beyond date limits. With non-pasteurised juice, the problem is turbidity, separation, gelatinisation of concentrates and microbiological fermentation.
All these problems can be avoided with thermal pasteurisation which, on the contrary, given the thermosensitivity of citrus juices, provokes some variation in the taste and colour. This way, pasteurisation optimisation is strongly linked to the process objective. Thermal treatment is normally done between 90°C and 95°C for 15-60 seconds. If necessary, the juice may need to undergo “de-bitterisation” treatment.