This study investigates the applicability of heat pumps to milk pasteurization for cheese production and to compare the results with classical pasteurization systems. The experiments are conducted in a liquid-to-liquid vapour compression heat pump system and a milk-to-milk plate heat exchanger is used as an economizer. The experiments are also conducted in a double jacket boiler system and a plate pasteurization system, which are classical milk pasteurization systems. The results for the three systems are compared and the advantages/disadvantages of using heat pump for milk pasteurization instead of classical systems are determined. It is found that the heat pump consumes less energy than the other two classical systems. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.