The major barrier for the effective use of high hydrostatic pressure for sterilization of products is the strong resistance of bacterial endospores to pressurization. In this study the behaviour of a strain of Bacillus subtilis as representative for endospore forming bacteria was used to develop a strategy for their inactivation. therefore various heat and pressure treatments were investigated with respect to their potential to produce pressure sensitive vegetative cells. It could be shown that both increasing temperatures or pressures enhanced the germination of endospores. For example with the following treatment a successful sterilization has been achieved: Induction at 500 MPa for 15 min, followed by a 30 min incubation at 37 deg C and atmospheric pressure, and a subsequent second pressurization for 15 min at 600 MPa. It was possible to perform a sterilization of the endospores in one hour only.
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