In modern meat processing, the effect of heat treatment can be supported by the application of additional “hurdles”, which have the potential to slow down microbial growth. Such “hurdles” allow keeping the heat treatment of sterilized products at lower temperature levels, so that the product quality is less affected (see page 294 “Commercially sterile products”). Alternatively, this technology can be used to produce shelf-stable products of the non-sterilized type through heat treatments below 100°C. This kind of heat treatment alone would not be enough to stop microbial growth, but the additional “hurdles” complete the effect. This kind of meat preservation is called hurdle technology.