Process and apparatus for treating food products

An apparatus for treating a flowable food product so as to kill microorganisms within said product, comprising an infra-fed heating cell, a holding chamber and an ultra-violet sterilizing cell serially connected in the named order, each cell comprising a central elongated radiation-emitting element, a first quartz tube spacedly surrounding said element and transparent to radiations emitted by said element, a second tube spacedly surrounding said first quartz tube and defining a circulation space with said first tube, said second tube is opaque and is reflective of said radiations, and bodies supporting the ends of said tubes and of said element in fluid-tight assembly, each body defining a first chamber surrounding said first quartz tube and a port for communication with said first chamber, the latter in communication with a circulation space between said first and first and second tubes, and a second chamber isolated from said circulation space, openable from the outside of said cell and providing an access into said first quartz tube to extract said radiation-emitting elongated element without disturbing the flow of food products through said cell, said holding chamber defining an elongated tubular member having heat-insulated walls and having a free circulation space, the cross-sectional area of which is larger than the circulation space of said cells, and tubing means serially connecting said cells and holding chamber.