LSAT 134 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q24

LR Question 24 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: In response to several bacterial infections traced to …

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

• McElligott flash pasteurizes its apple juice since bacterial infections were traced to it.
• Intensive pasteurization removes bacteria more effectively than any other method but is likely to hurt the flavor.
• Their citrus juices are not pasteurized since they haven’t been linked to bacterial infections.

ANALYSIS: The stimulus gives us facts about McElligott’s pasteurization methods and bacterial contamination.

Notice what we’re not told. We’re never told whether their citrus juices are completely bacteria free, that they’re safer than other juices, or that flash pasteurization is the best method. Don’t fill in those gaps.

The strongest inference comes from directly comparing the methods we are told about.

___________

1. There’s no comparison between McElligott’s citrus juices and anyone else’s. They may have fewer bacteria, more bacteria, or the same amount. We don’t know.
2. This is tempting since the apple juice is pasteurized while the citrus juices are not. But the stimulus never compares the amount of bacteria in the two juices. In fact, the citrus juices have not been linked to infections, so they may already contain very little bacteria.
3. The stimulus only tells us that intensive pasteurization is likely to destroy the original flavor. It says nothing about whether flash pasteurization affects flavor. We can’t conclude that every pasteurized juice loses more flavor than an unpasteurized one.
4. Also very tempting because we’re told that intensive pasteurization eliminates bacteria more effectively than any other method, and that it’s likely to destroy the original flavor. But notice that there’s no comparison of its likelihood of destroying flavor to that of any other method. So we don’t know which method is most likely to destroy flavor.
5. CORRECT. We know that intensive pasteurization is the most effective method to eliminate bacteria. Since McElligott uses flash pasteurization, intensive pasteurization would leave less bacteria than McElligott’s method.