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Volume average concentration (VACN) of thiamine retained in conduction heated foods was maximized using a modified Complex method to find the variable process temperature profile. The objective function was VACN, the implicit constraints were the target lethality at the cold point, and a threshold below which the center temperature must reach at the end of the process. A retort temperature range of 5-150C was used as an explicit constraint. Another explicit constraint was that the process temperature had to reach 5C at the end of the process. The control variables for the optimization were variable process temperatures (VPTP) at equidistant time steps throughout the process. The significance of optimization increases with increasing object size. Also, retention at the surface can be improved more than overall retention.