The invention relates to a method for pre-heating a pumpable food product (P), in particular beverages or juices, in a hot filling system (100) with a heat pump (400) according to the preamble of claim 1 and to a device for carrying out the method. The aim of the invention is to develop a method and a device of the generic type such that the use of the available thermal energy is further improved relative to the prior art. This is achieved by a method in which the heat-transfer agent circuit (300) is led over a second pre-heater (50) connected downstream of the first pre-heater (40) and upstream of the heater (6) for the food product (P). The food product (P) is additionally preheated to a temperature below the filling temperature (Tp4) in the second pre-heater (50) using the thermal energy provided by the heat pump (400) on the secondary side by means of the heat-transfer agent (M).
