Word of the Day for Tuesday, August 14, 2012

aseptic \uh-SEP-tik\, adjective:
1. Free from the living germs of disease, fermentation, or putrefaction.
noun:
1. A product, as milk or fruit juice, that is marketed in an aseptic package or container.
2. Aseptics, (used with a singular verb) a system of packaging sterilized products in airtight containers so that freshness is preserved for several months.

The development of aseptic packaging is so highly regarded in food industry circles that in 1983 members of the Institute of Food Technologists… voted it the number-one food innovation in the last fifty years.
-- Vince Staten, "Can You Trust a Tomato in January?"

He was taken to an aseptic, white barracks on the opposite bank of the Moldau.
-- Jorge Luis Borges, "Labyrinths"

Aseptic was invented in the 1850s by chemists. It is based on the root septic meaning "infected."

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