Thermal process lethality · F₀

TIME AT TEMPERATURE IS NOT THE SAME AS KILL

F0 = 10 T(t) − Trefz  dt

A spore does not count minutes, it counts lethality — and lethality is exponential in temperature. Every z degrees above the reference multiplies the killing rate tenfold, so ten minutes at 111° and one minute at 121° are the same process. Watch the lower band: the come-up looks like most of the picture and delivers almost none of the kill. Nearly all of it arrives during the hold.