A family of novel thermal processing media has been designed for optimized food and drink processing. These media composed solely of compounds approved to contact food, are essentially free of water, do not change state at any point in the process, remain corrosion-free throughout their useable life. While in combination with novel processing apparatus and methodologies, food and drink products requiring any heating, holding or cooling can be processed within the same equipment configurations essentially with no/minimal need for additional pressurization, the use of unheated modified atmospheres, in conjunction with these novel media, can be used to change or control the atmospheres within containers, especially polymer based containers at specific locations within the processing cycle. It further relates to using different media compositions for each processing stage modified to optimize the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity properties of the foodstuff being processed, minimizing costs and maximizing quality.
