In the middle of nineteenth century, commercial winemaker approached Louis Pasteur to seek a solution of abnormal fermentation and subsequent spoilage of wines and beers. Pasteur studied the problem during 1864–65 and found that some microorganisms are the root cause of abnormal fermentation leading to early spoilage of wines and it can be prevented by heating the wine around 60°C, which kills these microorganisms.
William Dewes recommended heating milk in the home before feeding to infants some 40 years before Pasteur conducted his experiments. Dewes observed that if the milk was heated to boiling point and cooled quickly, the tendency to spoil was reduced. This method was successful in reducing infant morbidity and mortality rates.
Also preceding Pasteur was the contribution of Gail Borden who, in 1853, patented a process for heating and condensing milk under vacuum followed by addition of sugar for preservation.
In 1867 Pasteur applies heat to milk and reports the process postponed milk souring.
The first application of pasteurizing heat treatments to milk may have been performed by Franz von Soxhlet in 1886, who pasteurized bottled milk fed to infants.
The first commercial pasteurizer was introduced in Germany in 1882, but it was not until 1893 that a commercial unit was established in the U.S. for pasteurization of raw milk.
Gerber and Wieske pasteurized milk in bottles at 65°C for 1 h as early as 1888. The first commercial pasteurizer was made in Germany in 1882; pasteurization on a commercial scale quickly became common practice in Denmark and Sweden in the mid-1880s.
In Denmark and Sweden, commercial pasteurization of milk was common as early as the mid-1880s, due in part to the early recognition by Danish butter makers of its merits. However, cities in the United States were much slower to openly embrace pasteurization techniques.
In the early 1900s, in Arizona, Jane H. Rider "publicized the link between infant mortality and contaminated milk, and finally convinced the dairy industry to pasteurize milk."
The first pasteurized milk ordinance was published in 1924 in the November issue of Public Health Reports; pasteurization was defined as a heating process of not less than 142°F (61.1°C) for 30 min in approved equipment.
In 1956 minimum temperature for vat pasteurization was raised from 142°F of to 145°F of based on heat resistance of Coxiella burnetii. Based on University of California Davis studies in late 1940's 1966 FDA memorandum accepts dual stem (CIP) flow diversion device to be used in HTST systems.
Today, pasteurization is used widely in the dairy industry and other food processing industries to achieve food preservation and food safety.
Milk heat treatment – pasteurization in history 
