Fuente: WIPO "milk" The invention provides a method for continuous heat sterilization of liquid which continuously carries out a pre-heating step of preheating the liquid, a final heating step of heating the preheated liquid to reach a predetermined sterilizing temperature, a holding step of holding the liquid which has reached the sterilizing temperature for a predetermined period of time and a cooling step of cooling the held liquid, wherein said final heating step comprises the following steps (a) and (b): (a) a step of continuously pressurizing the liquid by a high pressure pump; and (b) a step of releasing the liquid continuously to a normal pressure within a time period of less than seconds after the pressurizing step to thereby make the liquid reach the predetermined sterilizing temperature, and an apparatus for automatically carrying out the method. According to the continuous heat sterilization method and apparatus, scorch in the final heating step is dispensed with and accordingly, a long period of time of continuous operation is feasible, further, denaturation of liquid caused by heating is inconsiderable, the investment cost and the running cost become inexpensive and a large amount of liquid can be processed.