A mathematical model has been developed to describe the phenomena of heat and mass transfer taking place during the high-pressure treatment of foods. It has proved that convection currents in the pressure medium play an important role in the thermal evolution of the processed samples especially when the filling ratio in the pressure vessel is low. This model shows to be an extremely useful toot to design high-pressure processes seeking a uniform temperature distribution. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.