Article
Article
Sterilization
Article By:
Niven, Charles F., Jr. Del Monte Research Center, Walnut Creek, California.
Last reviewed:June 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.655600
An act of destroying all forms of life on and in an object. A substance is sterile, from a microbiological point of view, when it is free of all living micro-organisms. Sterilization is used principally to prevent spoilage of food and other substances and to prevent the transmission of diseases by destroying microbes that may cause them in humans and animals. See also: Food preservation; Microbiology
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