Year: 2024
Type: preprint
Abstract: Louis Pasteur devoted much of his early work to wine, its fermentation and diseases. Surrounded by his colleagues, he set up a field laboratory in Arbois and analysed each diseased wine, creating a microbial landscape by observing it under the microscope. Pasteur deduced that unusual ferments were responsible for the wine's deviations from alcoholic fermentation. He realised that successful fermentations had to be carried out by human intervention, combining the principles of restraint and hygiene to stop the development of disease-causing microbes. Pasteur then sought a method to kill or inhibit the bad ferments without hindering the development and activities of the good ferments. The history of pasteurisation is thus that of a compromise between destroying undesirable microbes and preserving the treated foodstuff, its colour, taste and smell. His work paved the way for the rationalisation of preservation processes, and his method was to have a universal impact, inspiring scientific and technological developments that continue to benefit the quality of food and drink to this day.
Source: HAL
Author: Beney, Laurent
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4394707844