An apparatus for fast and homogeneously heating a liquid product to a heating temperature by means of resistive heating, the apparatus comprising at least two vertically mounted, longitudinal, heating chambers (10, 20, 30) that are arranged in series； and a process for fast and homogeneously heating a liquid product to a heating temperature by means of resistive heating in such apparatus comprising (a) continuously supplying the liquid product to the first heating chamber in series and flowing the liquid product continuously through the at least two heating chambers； (b) continuously generating an electrical current through the liquid product flowing through the heating chambers by continuously applying an electrical potential over each heating chamber, wherein the direction of the current is continuously alternated with a frequency of at least 500 Hz, to obtain heated liquid product； and (c) continuously discharging heated liquid product from the last heating chamber in series, wherein the liquid product has an electrical conductivity of at least 0.03 S/m.
