Patent ID: 7285299

Claim:
A method of surface pasteurizing, already cooked food products wherein each of said already cooked food products has an outer surface, an internal core, and an internal core temperature, said method comprising the steps of: (a) continuously heating said already cooked food products in a manner effective to take said outer surface to a temperature of at least 155° F.; (b) then, after step (a), placing said already cooked food products in packages; (c) then, after step (b), continuously heating said packages of said already cooked food products using water in a manner effective to take said outer surface to a temperature of at least 155° F.; and (d) then, after step (c), continuously cooling said packages of said already cooked food products, wherein, except for any incidental heat loss which occurs in conducting said already cooked food products from step (a) to step (b) and from step (b) to step (c), no intervening cooling procedure is performed between step (a) and step (b) and no intervening cooling procedure is performed between step (b) and step (c), wherein, for each of said already cooked food products, step (a) has a beginning, step (d) has an end, and said internal core temperature at said beginning of step (a) is a beginning core temperature, and wherein steps (a), (b), (c), and (d) are conducted in a manner effective to prevent said internal core temperature from rising to more than 10° F. above said beginning core temperature at any time from said beginning of step (a) to said end of step (d).