The invention relates to a tunnel pasteuriser, comprising a tunnel through which the material for pasteurising is led and sprayed or sprinkled with water with a trap region beneath the tunnel for the draining water, the tunnel transporter having several temperature zones arranged in the direction of transport, and the trap region is divided into several separate trap zones corresponding to the temperature zones, from which the water is reintroduced into the relevant tunnel zones and with a control device for regulation of the water temperature in the temperature zones. According to the invention, the temperatures in the individual temperature zones may be better regulated whereby the control and the tubing of the trap zones is designed such that, for temperature regulation, water from the individual trap zones may be selectively removed and selectively introduced into other temperature zones, wherein water in the individual temperature zones is stored separately from other temperature zones in a corresponding zone buffer.
